The Morning Mist comes to Remnant
by Lazboy101
Summary: He thought he was done. He thought he could finally rest in peace, but something has called him to the world of the living once again. This time he finds a familiar face in an unfamiliar world. The Morning Mist has come, and it will change Remnant forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I Don't own RWBY or Naruto**

 **And this is a second story idea that's been budding in my head we will see where it goes.**

Prologue

Darkness that's all there was. After he had ended the reanimation he was again taken to the cold embrace of death.

'I've finished what I set out to do, and now I've left Sasuke to Naruto. The only thing left to do is sit here in this void. How disappointing the afterlife seems to be.' He mused.

'Hmm what is that light?' He wondered seeing a small white light in the distance. 'I wonder where this will lead me.' He thought walking in the direction of the light.

When he got closer he realized the light wasn't actually far away it was just a small glowing orb of some kind and it seemed to be moving. 'Intriguing.' He thought as he followed the ball. There wasn't much else to do at the moment anyways.

He followed the ball for a time, and the entire time it stayed close to a meter away give or take. Then it just suddenly stopped and circled around the follower for a few seconds before starting again.

"Now why did you do that?" He asked not really expecting an answer. Regardless he started following it again and walked forward half a step before realizing a second too late that there was no ground there.

"You tricked me so easily… death seems to dull the senses instead of completely erasing them." He said with a dry chuckle which sounded weird coming from him. Or at least he thought it did,

"Oh well let's see where this takes me. Who knows maybe I have just cursed myself to an eternal fall. This might be what the Izanami feels like with a really short loop." All these admittedly pointless thoughts went through his head simply because there was nothing else to think about. He wasn't afraid to die he was already dead. He didn't mind the feeling of falling, and he couldn't even see the little light anymore.

Wait there's another light down there getting closer. 'I wonder-' He thought before everything went white.

When he woke up everything was blurry for a few seconds before his eyes adjusted. Years of experience and paranoia made him instantly activate his Sharingan and survey his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was what he was wearing. "Why am I back in this outfit?" He asked aloud.

He was wearing his Akatsuki garb. Completely black with red cloud emblazons across it. He also noticed he was wearing his usual clothes underneath it, and even had his pouch holding ninja tools.

"Ugh my head…" Came a voice from behind him. When he looked to where the voice had come from he drew a Kunai and slowly walked towards it. After looking around a tree he saw someone who he never thought he'd see again.

"Kisame?" He asked.

Kisame turned around hearing his name and a familiar voice. "Itachi… is that you?" He asked rubbing his eyes. "It is you, but how? You died long before I did." He said taking in his surroundings.

"I'm not sure… it may be a new form of the reanimation jutsu." Itachi said looking around again trying to pick up any chakra signatures besides their own.

It was about that time that he realized something else. "My vision…" He muttered. He could see perfectly clear again. With that thought in mind he needed to check if he still was able to activate the Mangekyo Sharingan. Itachi closed his eyes and reopened them the classic red eye with three coma markings around the center was replaced with the three-pointed shape of his own Mangekyo Sharingan.

"What's happening around here?" He asked.

"What do you mean aside from the fact that we are somehow alive." Kisame asked looking to his old partner.

"My vision which had digressed to a state of almost complete blindness is now clear again." He said now looking around more carefully. When he looked in a nearby bush he saw another chakra signature, and when he went to take a closer look he called to Kisame. "Kisame. Samehada is over here."

Kisame walked over and saw the wrapped blade of his sharkskin. Picking it up he felt the blade radiate with energy in response to his chakra. "So you like me again huh?" Kisame asked the blade which seemed to purr in response.

"Kisame I'm not sure we are in the Elemental Nations anymore." He said looking into the night sky.

"What makes you say that?" He asked before looking up and seeing a shattered moon. "Well damn."

 _Howllllll_

The duo looked to the source of the howl and saw multiple sets of red eyes staring at them through the darkness.

"I'm not sensing any chakra from these things." Itachi warned.

Kisame just smirked and rested Samehada on his shoulder. "Chakra or not if they attack us I'll shred them to ribbons."

Just then a wolf-like creature jumped out from the underbrush. The beast was pure black with white bone-like plates covering its body.

"I don't think Genjutsu will work on these, so I guess I'll have to get my hands dirty." Itachi said bringing up the Kunai in his hand.

"It's more fun to get up close and personal anyways." Kisame said with his shark-like grin.

The beowolf that first jumped out of the underbrush was now circling the two Akatsuki. As it did more beowolves came out joining the circle.

When he checked Itachi saw thirteen of them. Twelve were circling the ninjas, and one was waiting in the back. The one in the back was probably the leader judging by the superior size and plate growth.

With a final howl the beowolves leaped at the duo who just stood back to back waiting. The closest of the bunch was knocked out of the air and pulverized into the ground by the tip of Kisame's sharkskin. He then lifted the great sword and swung it horizontally at two of the other beowolves knocking them back. The bandages on Samehada started to rip showing its spiky exterior. The next unlucky beowolf was shredded by the blade.

Itachi was tracking each of the movements from the wolf-like creatures and keeping an eye on the one in the back. When the first beowolf came near him he avoided the creatures claw and sliced its neck with his Kunai. The dead creature's body started to fade away, and realizing these things weren't much of a threat he decided to try and see if some of his jutsu still worked.

In a blur he made the hand signs and put his hand to his mouth. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He said before blowing a large ball of fire at the beasts. Another four had fallen, but one was still clinging to its wretched life, and trying to swipe at him again. The wolf was met with a Kunai into the eye piercing its head and killing the creature.

Looking back Itachi saw that Kisame had finished his part of the pack too. All that was left was the Alpha of the pack. Instead of rushing in and dying like its kin the beast started to back away from the duo.

It made it a few feet before Kisame yelled. "Oh no you don't! Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"

A water shark that appeared out of nowhere chased down and exploded on contact with the wolf effectively killing it.

"Well that was somewhat disappointing. What were those things anyways?" Kisame asked.

"I'm not sure, but if we want to learn more about our location and those creatures then we should find some kind of civilization." Itachi said.

"That sounds like a good idea lead the way." He said.

Itachi just nodded before jumping into a tree and climbing to the top of it to look around.

"Alright I think I see a city off in the distance." He yelled down to his partner. With that the two started jumping through the trees towards the city.

As they were traveling Itachi spoke up. "If my hunch is right and we are no longer in the Elemental Nations, but some place new then what are you going to do?" He asked.

"I'm really not sure I suppose the first thing to do would be to observe this place. I joined the Akatsuki because I wanted to see a world without lies, so if need be then I will continue down that path." He said after a moment.

"A world without lies would be a nice change of pace." Itachi agreed. "If you need help in this pursuit of yours then I will help you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, but what about you? If we are in some new place what is your plan of action?" He asked.

"I don't know either. My sole purpose in the past was to protect the village and worry about Sasuke, but if we are somewhere else then I don't know what I want to do." He said.

"So you did lose on purpose. I suspected as much. Another lie it seems." He said before stopping.

Itachi stopped with him. "If we want a world without lies then we should first promise not to lie to each other." Kisame said.

"I agree a world of truth built upon lies won't succeed, so I will accept that promise." He said. "First we need to figure out where we are, and the fact that we were once dead isn't the most believable idea, so we may be forced to stretch the truth a bit."

"You're right… Well the first thing to worry about is gathering information like you said. My dream can come a little later." Kisame responded.

"It's not your dream really. What you have is a goal, but a goal shared by multiple people becomes a dream, so it's our dream." Itachi said with a small smile.

"Don't get all philosophical on me let's just get to that city." Kisame said with a grin.

With that said the duo silently approached the city hopping form tree to tree until they reached the outskirts of the city. With a nod to each other they went into the city this time on foot.

Since it was dark out there weren't many people on the streets. Just from first glances Itachi and Kisame could tell that this place was more advanced than the Villages they had come from. "This might take some getting used to." Kisame commented looing around at the tall buildings.

"You're right which is why we should start now." Itachi said looking towards one of the shops that were still open. "Come on let's look inside this shop."

Kisame grunted in affirmation and followed. "From Dust 'til Dawn interesting name." Kisame added offhandedly.

As they were approaching something came out one of the front windows, and when they looked closer they saw it was a little girl… carrying a massive scythe standing on the body of a guy dressed in black.

Itachi activated his Sharingan and looked to the two. "Interesting." He said aloud.

"What's interesting?" His partner asked.

"Chakra usually comes from within the body, but they are surrounded by something similar to chakra on the outside. It almost looks like a small shield." He said looking at the differences between the two. "Those energies also seem to differ between individuals since the girl's shield looks to be red while the guys who just came out, and the one on the ground seem to have smaller shields of different colors."

"So what does this mean?" Kisame asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but for now we don't need to interfere." He said watching the girl in a red cloak easily take out the armed men. "She isn't killing any of them." He observed.

"What an interesting place." Kisame added. "What's the guy in white doing with that cane?" He asked.

"I don't know but it looks troubling." He said running towards the two. Kisame followed.

Break

Ruby was having fun. She had just kicked a bunch of bad guy butt, and now the only one left was this guy in a dumb looking hat.

"Well Red this has been an eventful evening, but this" A sight at the foot of his cane flipped up. "Is where we part ways." He said firing his cane.

"Oh shoot!" Ruby said about to jump out of the way before a large skeletal hand appeared and blocked the shot.

The orange-haired criminal was trying to figure out what he was looking at. In front of the girl he just shot at was a skeletal hand covered in orange flames, and the arm attached to the hand lead back to a guy in a black cloak whose body was surrounded by a rib cage which was also covered in the orange flames. After seeing this thing in front of him he decided it was time to escape.

The thief ran to a nearby ladder and climbed to the top. Then he headed towards the designated pickup point.

Ruby looked at the fading hand, and the person who she assumed made it appear there. She then saw the thief getting away and decided to chase him. "Thanks." She yelled back.

"Well it looks like you can still use your Susano. How're your eyes?" Kisame asked.

"They feel fine… there's no strain like there usually is. My eyes are something I can look into later, but for now let's check out this shop." Itachi said walking into the shop.

"What about the kid?" Kisame asked.

"She seemed intent on chasing that man it doesn't really concern us." He answered.

"Then why save her at all?" Kisame asked with a grin.

"I'm not sure. I guess I just did it on a whim." He replied without looking to his partner.

When the two entered the store, the shopkeeper had just hung up the phone. Probably calling the police. When he saw the duo he froze.

Itachi's Sharingan seemed to be glowing, and it felt like he was looking into his soul. His partner was more physically intimidating with how large the man was, and that hungry look in his eyes left the shopkeeper shaking. He then noticed the large sword on his back and paled.

"H-how can I help you." He asked.

"I was wondering if you knew of any nearby bookstores or perhaps a library." Itachi responded.

"O-oh well the nearest bookstore I know of is Tuskon's Book Trade, and as far as libraries go the first that comes to mind is Beacon's school library." He said slightly relieved that they weren't looking to steal anything, or at least he hoped.

"Could you point us towards the bookstore?" Itachi asked politely.

"Mmhmm." The shopkeeper said writing out directions onto a sheet of paper. "Here you go, but it is probably closed right now, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow to go." He said.

"Thanks for the help." Itachi said taking the directions and heading to leave. Kisame gave one last toothy grin showing his sharpened teeth before following the Uchiha.

As the two headed in the direction of the bookstore they heard some shouting.

"Freeze you two!" Came a voice from behind them.

They each turned part of the way to see who was yelling at them. When they found the source of the noise they saw a blonde-haired woman wearing glasses who was standing next to the red-cloaked girl.

"Is this the one who stepped in and saved you before I arrived?" The blonde woman asked Ruby.

"Yeah that's the guy who helped me out."

"I see. I would like the two of you to come with me." She said looking to the two.

"And what exactly do you need us for?" Itachi asked.

"Someone wishes to speak to the three of you." She said somewhat impatiently. It wasn't very often that people questioned her nowadays.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that." Kisame said bringing his hand to Samehada's hilt. "Who wants to see us?" He asked.

"Fine if you must know right now then Professor Ozpin wants to speak with you." She said.

The cloaked girl had a starry look in her eyes at the mention of the name. While the two former Akatsuki just looked at her.

"That name doesn't sound familiar to me. What about you Itachi?" Kisame asked.

"No I can't say I've heard of this person." Itachi responded.

Glynda was just shocked. Who were these two? Ozpin's name was known across almost all of Remnant, and they had never heard of him. "He is the headmaster at Beacon Academy." She said looking for some kind of recognition.

Itachi nodded. "Isn't that one of the places the shopkeeper mentioned?" Kisame asked his partner.

"Yes it is maybe we can learn something from meeting him." He whispered. Kisame nodded and put his hand back to his sides. "Besides if it is a trap then we can just kill them and move on." He finished looking back to the blonde woman.

"Right." He said walking next to his partner.

With that the four walked over to the police station with Itachi and Kisame in the rear.

 **A/N: Well I hope you guys enjoyed that. Like I mentioned above this idea has been in my head for a bit, but just because I've started this in no way means that my other story is done.**

 **Anyways Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Yeah I don't own these shows**

Chapter 1 Opened Eyes

 _Police Station_

 _With Ozpin_

'Just what is this ability?' He wondered to himself watching the footage from the earlier battle for the third time. 'I've never seen anything like this.'

He paused his questioning and picked up the platter of cookies that had just finished.

'If I can get the three of them into Beacon then I can keep a closer eye on them, and hopefully they will become a powerful force we can use to fight Salem.' He finished his thought as he opened the door.

Glynda was tensely watching the two men who had taken spots standing in the back corners of the room. Both were standing completely still just gazing at her and now him.

Ruby Rose was the only one sitting at the table that had seats for all of them and was seemingly oblivious of the intense pressure the two behind her were emitting.

'What is this feeling?' Ozpin asked as he suppressed a shiver looking into the red eyes of the individual in the back right. 'Might as well start with the one I know about.'

"Ruby Rose." He said looking at her. "You have silver eyes." He finished placing the tray of cookies in front of her.

"Umm…" She said kind of confused. "Yes and you have brown eyes." She said looking into his eyes.

"Where did such a young girl learn to do something like this?" He asked showing a clip of her fighting the grunts.

"Signal." She said before taking a cookie and eating it in one bite. After a moment she inhaled the rest of the delicious treats.

"She eats cookies faster than you eat chakra." Kisame muttered to sharkskin who growled in response to the challenge.

Ozpin thought he heard something from the back of the room but didn't see anything.

"Someone from Signal taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever created?"

"My uncle Qrow!" She chirped.

"I see, and what is an adorable girl like yourself doing at a school to hunt monsters?" He asked.

"I want to become a huntress." Ruby said with determination. "My sister is going to Beacon this year, and when I graduate I want to try and go there too. Our parents always told us to help people, so might as well make a career out of it." She said before her talking went into unintelligible rambling.

After a moment Ozpin spoke again. "Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"You're professor Ozpin the headmaster at Beacon." She said somewhat confused. Goodwitch had told them earlier that they'd be speaking to him, so who else would it be?

"Hello." He said. "So you want to come to my school?"

"More than anything." She said.

"Well alright then." He said with a smile to Goodwitch who rolled her eyes.

"Yay!" She said happily.

"Now then." He said looking past the happy girl to the two men behind her.

"May I ask your names?" He asked.

"It is considered polite to properly introduce oneself before asking the name of another." Itachi said looking straight at the headmaster.

"I apologize I am professor Ozpin of Beacon academy." He said with a smile.

Kisame looked to Itachi who nodded. "I'm Kisame Hoshigaki." He said with his usual grin.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha." He said.

"Now as you just witnessed I have extended my thanks for her actions tonight by moving her ahead into my school, and I wanted to give the both of you the same opportunity." He said with a smile.

"Why would we want to go to a school for children?" Kisame asked.

"Well I never said you were to become a student. I was hoping you would consider joining our faculty." He answered.

Kisame and Itachi shared a look. "I'm sorry Professor Ozpin, but we aren't interested." Itachi said making the man widen his eyes slightly.

"Why not if I may ask?" He asked.

"Because professor my partner and I are currently only looking to gain knowledge about where we are not teach children." Itachi said never once looking away from the other man's eyes.

"Well Beacon does have an immaculate library probably the best one in Vale." Ozpin said trying to sell the point.

"That's what we heard, but even so whatever is happening in that school of yours I personally want no part of. What do you think Kisame?" He asked.

"No going to an academy again doesn't really sound like something I'd enjoy especially considering the last academy I was a part of." He said thinking of the ninja academy of the mist, or as it was known back then Blood Mist Village.

This peaked Ozpin's curiosity. "What academy would that be? I know of most of the hunting academies around Remnant." 'Considering I was the one who influenced their creation.' He added with thought.

"I don't think you would know of it." Kisame said with a grin. "Anyways if that was all you wanted from us then we will be on our way right Itachi?" He asked looking to his partner.

"Yes let's go." He said looking to his partner.

During all of this Ruby was watching the little feud with confusion.

"Why are the both of you so intent on not going to Beacon?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"A better question is why do you seem to want us there so badly?" Itachi asked. "The only thing I can think of is you're curious about what I did earlier."

Ozpin internally winced. "No I just saw what the two of you did, and thought that with how you went out of the way to help this young girl that you may be a good fit for Beacon." He said.

'He's lying.' They both thought. With their past experiences as shinobi they knew all the signs to look for regarding lying, and while most of these were covered well by the man he left a few open.

"You know almost nothing about us, and absolutely nothing about our background. What you're doing now is gambling the safety and integrity of your academy in attempt to find more out about the both of us." Itachi said staring down the man.

"In what way am I gambling the safety and integrity of my academy?" Ozpin asked not denying what was just said.

"You know nothing about either of us. For all you know we could be mass murderers who have even killed our own comrades and kin." Itachi said causing Ruby to pale.

"Y-you're not l-like that are you?" Ruby asked nervously.

"That's the problem Ozpin doesn't know if what I say is the truth or not. We do wish to thank you for this meeting I believe we've both learned a lot." Itachi said closing his eyes momentarily before nodding to Kisame.

With that the two walked by the shocked Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch and were about to leave before Itachi turned once more to Ruby. "People aren't always who they may first appear to be. Remember that." When he was finished the duo walked out the door.

When they were walking out no one tried to stop them and the officers who were in the halls moved away from them or more specifically Kisame.

 _Flashback_

 _The group had just entered the police station, and when the guards saw his weapon they tried to apprehend it._

" _We will need to take that and hold it for you here sir." One said walking up._

" _I really wouldn't do that if I were you." Kisame warned with a grin._

" _I'll remember to take that under advisement with the rest of the crap I hear from the faunas who come through here." He said rolling his eyes and grabbing the hilt of the sword._

 _When he picked it up off the man's back he held it for a moment. "See nothing to worry about." He said with a smirk before yelling in pain._

 _His hand had just been impaled by spikes coming from the handle of the sword._

" _I tried to warn you." Kisame said with a laugh taking the blade back from the man. The officer's aura had been trying to heal the wound the whole time, but only started working when he was no longer touching the blade. 'Looks like Samehada eats this stuff just like regular chakra.' He thought with a grin._

 _Flashback end_

Needless to say, the officers all seemed to fear the shark-like man and his sword.

"Well what did you think of that?" Kisame asked his partner as they walked out of the building.

"We learned a bit about where we are, and the kind of people around here, so I would say this night went rather well." Itachi said. They had learned a bit about hunters and huntresses, that they were in a place called Vale, and that the academies or at least Beacon isn't to be trusted.

"You're right we can learn more in the morning at the bookstore, but that brings up another problem. We don't have any money." He said.

"You're right maybe we can use this as a time to test if Genjutsu works on these people." Itachi said.

"How evil." He said with a dark chuckle. "That reminds me you've got a nice streak recently. Why do you keep helping and giving advice to that girl?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"Ah the young girl. When I look at her I see an innocence that I used to see in Sasuke back when we were kids." He said looking up.

"Oh you see the innocence your younger brother once had that you destroyed, and you don't want to see hers corrupted?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. In this place from what I can tell, that innocence will ultimately probably get her killed, so she will need to lose it at some point, but it was just a nice reminder to see that innocence can still exist in such a pure form." The Uchiha answered with a small smile.

"I guess that makes sense. Innocence isn't something we were used to seeing back in the nations." Kiame said.

"Yes you're right." He said looking to the shop they had just arrived at. It was the one that they had been told about Tuskon's Book Trade. "Alright we know where it is, and we aren't in so much of a hurry that we need to break in, so for now let's find somewhere to rest."

"Whatever you say Itachi, but what do you want to do about our new shadow?" He asked looking to the side. Someone had been following the duo ever since they left the station. "Whoever they are they don't have the skills of a shinobi or else they would've been harder to notice. Even the nine-tailed brat had better stealth skills." He finished with a laugh.

"You're right it is somewhat pathetic, but even so we can't let our guard down they could be trying to trick us." Itachi said.

"If that's the case and they're hostile then…" Kisame started placing his hand on sharkskin's hilt.

"We don't need to draw a lot of attention right now when there is nothing to gain here." His partner said before jumping to the top of the store and starting to run along the rooftops.

"Running away from a fight again just for a different reason how boring." Kisame said to himself before jumping onto the building as well and following the Uchiha. 'But I guess he does have a point it'll be more difficult to go to that bookstore if we are wanted men.'

The person following the two was none other than Glynda Goodwitch who just stared at where the two people had been. 'They just cleared that shop and are now jumping the rooftops like it's the most natural thing in the world. What on Remnant.' She thought before shaking her head. She pushed some aura into her legs and used her semblance to quickly run after the two, and even with her aura and semblance they were quickly getting away. 'Why are they heading to the edge of the city?' She wondered before they kept going into the forest.

She then stopped and pulled out her scroll. "Headmaster Ozpin… those two have left the city."

"They left?" He asked puzzled.

"Yes they have just left the city's border and went into the forest." She answered.

"Why would they do that?" He asked more himself than her

Meanwhile instead of listening to the headmaster's advice and immediately going home one Ruby Rose decided to follow the two strange people. She used her semblance and kept up better than Goodwitch did. 'How're they so fast?' She asked herself.

 _With Kisame and Itachi_

"It seems that one is still following us." Itachi said.

"Should we see what they want?" Kisame asked.

"At this point following us any further will be dangerous to them, so we could lose them, but if they're wanting to talk we can see what it is they want." He answered.

"They've piqued your curiosity have they?" Kisame asked with a chuckle. "You must be bored."

"Hmph maybe in death you've gone soft. You never would've let someone follow us for this long otherwise." He said with a smile. He had missed this kind of banter if he was being honest.

"Maybe you're right, but I can fix that if need be, and for now we are trying that peaceful approach of yours anyways." He said stopping.

"Yes we are." He said stopping next to his partner. "Now then." He jumped down to the ground in front of the person chasing them.

"Woah!" She shouted as she ran into the person she had been chasing. She fell back and would've fallen had someone not caught her.

Looking up she saw the glowing red of Itachi's Sharingan. "O-oops my bad." She said with a nervous laugh.

"Is there something you needed?" Kisame asked as he jumped down from the tree they stopped on.

"W-well I was just curious about what happened at the station." She said looking between the two of them.

"Curious about what exactly?" Itachi asked.

"Well I felt bad I get to go to Beacon early even though you guys saved me once. Well I mean I probably would've avoided the first shot, but he could've had something else planned, and you being there made him run. Oh and what was that arm thing!" She spewed out far too quickly.

"You have no reason to feel bad." Itachi said starting at the beginning of that babble. "We were offered the same choice as you, and all we did was decline the invitation."

"But why? I mean are you guys huntsmen already?" She asked.

"There's that term again. What are huntsmen? What do they hunt?" Kisame asked.

"How do you not know what huntsmen are?!" She asked waving her arms around. "Huntsmen and Huntresses protect the kingdoms from the Grimm." She said.

"Alright what are Grimm?" Kisame asked.

"How do you not know these things, and you're even heading out of the safety of the cities at night!" She said very animatedly. "Grimm are soulless beasts that can look like different animals. They're all black except for their white bone plates that act as armor." She said.

"Would they happen to have red eyes?" Itachi asked.

"Yes they do, but if you didn't know what they are then how did you-" She said before seeing the large and strangely blue-skinned man swing his sword over her head shredding the arms of an Ursa Major that had snuck up behind her.

"So that's what this thing and those wolves from earlier were." Kisame said leaning his sword on his shoulder.

"These are the Grimm huh?" Itachi asked before looking over the Ursa.

Standing up fully on two legs it was a good eight or nine feet tall with spikey bones all across it's back. It looked more like a porcupine or a hedgehog with the spikes in his opinion. On it's face was a bone mask with a red vein-like pattern in it, and red eyes full of hatred completed the look. "Not very impressive are they?" He asked still looking at the armless creature.

"What do you mean? That thing isn't the biggest I've seen, but it is pretty big." Ruby said frantically.

"This is kind of disappointing." Kisame said as he sidestepped the charging beast. Without its arms there wasn't a lot it could do besides charge and bite.

"Stop playing with it and kill the thing. We were having an interesting conversation." Itachi said.

Before Kisame stopped playing around the Ursa's head was cleanly removed from its body ending the creature's life. Standing behind the creature was Ruby holding her "Baby" Crescent Rose in its scythe form.

"That was very well executed." Itachi said having watched her make the move. Within a second she had sped forward and deployed her scythe immediately taking the beast's head off in one movement.

"T-thank you." She stuttered. "I've had a lot of practice." She finished putting the scythe back into its compact form.

"You know I think she's better with a scythe than Hidan was." Kisame said looking to the young girl.

"Well he didn't necessarily need the skills she has for the way he used it." Itachi said putting a finger to his chin. "I wonder if he's still alive at the bottom of that hole."

"Who knows." Kisame shrugged.

"Umm…?" Ruby said somewhat lost.

"Right where were we?" Kisame asked.

"We were talking about the creatures of Grimm." Ruby said helpfully.

"Right so there are more types of these creatures?" Kisame asked.

"Yeah judging by what you said earlier I would guess you've only seen Ursae and Beowolves." She said.

"So there are more dangerous ones than those correct?"

"Umm yeah there are a lot of different types." She said.

"That can be something we look into later." Itachi said.

"Yes maybe we'll find some fun ones to play with while we're here." Kisame said with his signature grin.

"You guys are weird." Ruby said with a giggle.

"Oh? And why is that?" Kisame asked still smiling.

"You guys are like from a different place or something you don't know anything that's going on around here, and you even joke in the face of our greatest danger." She said laughing.

"The Grimm are Humanity's biggest threat?" Itachi asked.

"Well not just Humanity, but Faunas kind too." She answered.

"What's a faunas? The policeman from earlier mentioned them." Kisame said.

"Wait are you not a faunas?" Ruby asked somewhat confused.

"What is a faunas?" He asked again.

"Oh right they're like humans, but with animal uhh things." She said.

"Things?" Kisame asked.

"Like tails and ears and stuff." She said trying to explain.

"Appendages." Itachi offered.

"Yes! Those appendages!" Ruby said triumphantly.

"Why did you think I was a faunas?" Kisame asked.

"Well you have gills and pointy teeth, so I kinda assumed you were like a fish faunas or something." She said twiddling her thumbs.

"Well you're not wrong, and most of the people I've known wouldn't consider me human…" He said pausing, "But I don't think I'm a faunas."

"Do faunas have any other distinguishable traits besides animal appendages?" Itachi asked.

"Umm most of them do have night vision." Ruby said after a moment. "And some I think have retractable claws and stuff."

"Interesting." Itachi hummed.

"Now then I forget, what was the reason you chased us down?" Kisame asked.

"Umm I felt bad about you guys not going to Beacon… Oh right what was the real reason you guys didn't want to go? You seemed interested in the library for some reason, so why not?" She asked.

Itachi and Kisame shared a look. "You know the dream we share we might as well start here." Itachi said to Kisame who smiled. "And here I thought you'd be the one I'd have to convince." He said with a snicker.

"What dream?" Ruby asked confused again.

"Simply put we want a world without lies, and it's because of that dream that we don't trust that man." Kisame said.

"Yes it was painfully obvious that he is hiding far too much." Itachi added. "You know who he reminds me of Kisame?" He asked.

"Orochimaru?" Kisame suggested.

"No he doesn't quite fit with Orochimaru, but he does remind me a lot of Danzo." He replied.

"Oh right you mentioned him a few times back during our travels." Kisame said.

"Yes those two seem very similar. They're both secretive, and although they want what's best they don't always do it the best way." Itachi said.

"Who and who?" Ruby asked reminding them she was there.

"Just some people from our past who are long gone now." Itachi answered.

"Oh I'm sorry your friends died." Ruby sad looking down.

"Friends? Listen uh… Ruby was it? Neither of them were our friends. In fact, I daresay we wanted both of them dead." Kisame said with a chuckle.

"You what? Why would you want them dead?" Ruby asked horrified at the prospect.

"Ruby can you tell me where we are?" Itachi asked.

"Umm outside of Vale." She answered.

"Be broader there are multiple areas correct? What land mass are they all apart of?" He asked.

"Considering you didn't know the past few things we talked about I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but we are on Remnant." She said wondering how this relates to her question.

"I see well I guess we will share some truth with you. We aren't from Remnant." Itachi said. "The place we are from doesn't have Grimm, but humans killing other humans is very common because we were always in different states of war or shaky peace."

"Does this mean you have both killed someone before?" Ruby asked nervously.

"How old are you Ruby?" Itachi asked.

"I'm fifteen why?" She asked.

"When I first killed someone, I was… I want to say eleven or so." Itachi said making Ruby go pale.

"Mine was a bit earlier than that I want to say in the eight to ten range back when I graduated from the academy." He said trying to remember something that by all rights in his old life were unimportant.

"Why? Why would you ever kill people so young, or even at all? Killing isn't the answer to everything and it's just an evil thing to do." Ruby said trying to understand the people next to her.

"Killing is killing no matter where you are, but where we grew up our academies taught us how to fight, and by relation how to kill." Itachi said to the girl. "We didn't have a common enemy to fight like the Grimm here we were just fighting amongst each other."

"Are you saying you are alright with killing doesn't it ever bother you?" She asked grasping at straws.

"Some kills more than others, but yes everyday I think about those people I've known that I personally killed or that died around me." Itachi said.

"Yes the Uchiha massacre." Kisame said with a nod. "I was given orders that I had to follow, and some of them were to kill my own comrades if it came down to it." He finished.

"It does weigh down our souls, but that became a possibility when we became shinobi." Itachi said.

"Shinobi?"

"They seem to be similar to your huntsmen and huntresses in that they fight for their homes and homelands, but that is about where the similarities end." Kisame answered this time.

"Why did you tell me all of this when you wouldn't tell the headmaster?" Ruby asked.

Itachi and Kisame looked at each other.

"I'm not sure, but if I had to give an immediate answer then I'd say it's because you are honest." Itachi said.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Like we said earlier we want to see a world without lies. Ozpin has many secrets and he lied multiple times in the five or so minutes that we spoke to him. You on the other hand scream honesty. I'm not even sure you could lie if you tried." Kisame said laughing.

"Hey I could too!" She pouted. "What makes you say he lied to you two?"

"Well when we asked why he wanted us there he was lying." Itachi answered.

"He said because he thought we were good people when he knew absolutely nothing about us except for one of Itachi's abilities. That's what he was really after." Kisame added.

"He also wanted to see whether we would be a threat to him, or an ally." Itachi finished.

"Really? I had no idea I thought he was being completely genuine." Ruby said.

"Well like we said your personality screams of purity and honesty meanwhile our homeland was filled with deceit and deception, so we know what to look for." Kisame said with a shrug.

Ruby sat and thought for a moment. "Did he lie to me at all?" She asked.

"I don't think he necessarily lied to you, but he definitely seemed to already know you." Itachi said making her think about it. "He also seemed interested in your eye color since it's the first thing he mentioned when he walked in." He added.

"Itachi do you think that in this place there are other kinds of special eyes like yours?" Kisame asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think any of them would serve the same function as mine do." He said thinking of the other visual powers from the elemental nations.

"What is special about your eyes?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Well here I can track and copy movements and fighting styles, and I can detect people by their energy signature." Itachi said.

"Energy signature?"

"The shields you all seem to have that protect you." He clarified.

"Oh you mean our Aura." Ruby said. "It's the energy of the soul." She finished.

"Energy of the soul?" Kisame said aloud thinking.

"Well it's technically seen as a manifestation of the soul, and some people who have unlocked their auras gain semblances. I used mine to follow you so quickly." She said happily.

"The speed with petals scattering behind you." Itachi guessed.

"Yep!" Ruby said happily. "Was that hand thing earlier your semblance?" She asked.

"No where we are from there is no aura or semblance we all have different abilities, but that isn't important at the moment I may tell you more another time." Itachi said.

"Alright well I think I have asked all of my questions." Ruby said thinking.

"Remember what I said earlier not everyone is as they may first seem." Itachi said.

"Like you both looked really scary when I first saw you, but you're actually pretty nice." Ruby said.

"If I'm being honest had anyone else from this place been tailing us they might've died." Kisame said. "Consider yourself lucky." He said with a dark grin.

"O-oh thanks haha…" She said nervously again.

"She's fun to mess with Itachi." Kisame said with a laugh.

"Hey that wasn't nice I was scared!" Ruby said angrily.

"And he was being serious. Had anyone Ozpin sent after us been following for that long we probably would've killed them." Itachi said.

"Well I'll be honest…" Ruby said with a sigh. "I'm not sure what I should think anymore."

"Hmm what do you mean kid?" Kisame asked.

"I was always taught that lying is bad, but stuff like killing is bad too. You guys have been honest in admitting to killing, and if what you said about Ozpin is true then he's lying about things, and he is like a hero to look up to for huntsmen and huntresses. I am just so confused." Ruby said shaking her head.

"Anyone has the capacity for evil, but some evils aren't as bad as others. Simple lying isn't as bad as taking another's life, but manipulation through lying is where the lines blur. I'm speaking from experience." Itachi said looking up to the moon that had moved farther across the sky.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"That's… a story for another time." He said. "By the way isn't it awfully late for you to be standing in the middle of a forest at night with two strangers?" He asked.

Ruby pulled out her scroll and gulped at the time and the texts from her family. "I'm grounded forever." She said paling.

"What is that thing?" Kisame asked.

"It's a scroll you can contact people access the internet and do a lot of other stuff on it." She mumbled.

"We have a lot to learn Itachi." Kisame said.

"Yes, but thanks to Ruby here we have already learned a lot when we were just planning to find a place to rest." He said looking to the now unanimated form of Ruby. "As a way of thanks why don't we make sure you get back to your house alright."

"But the last bullheads took off a while ago." Ruby said looking to the two. They shared a look before she sighed and giggled. "I'll tell you about those later."

"Alright well do you know how to get there from here?" Kisame asked wearing his usual grin.

"Actually if we go back to the edge of the forest I can see where we are and head in the right direction. My uncle would take me on camping trips during my training in the forests between Vale and Patch, so I know a lot of these areas." She said with a smile.

"Alright then let's go." Itachi said jumping into the nearest tree.

"Right let's go kid." He said with a grin before following his partner.

"Cool…" She said before using her semblance and following them from the ground.

"Let's make sure she doesn't fall behind she doesn't seem to have the stamina we do." Itachi said to his partner.

"Right."

With that the group went back out to the edge of the forest. Ruby then found her bearings and led them towards her home. As they were heading over there The Morning Mist duo noticed the cloaked girl was slowing, so they stopped.

"Do you need a break kid?" Kisame asked her as she leaned against a tree panting.

"I'm… alright… I just… used too much aura… now I'm exhausted." She said with a nervous laugh.

The duo shared a look again before Kisame spoke. "I have Samehada on my back, and I don't know if it'll try draining her aura."

"You're right I'll do it." Itachi said jumping down in front of Ruby and kneeling in front of her. "Hop on if we wait around too long the Grimm might show up." He said.

Ruby nodded and clamored onto his back, and almost fell off when he jumped back into the tree. "Can you guys teach me how you jump so high, and move so fast?" She asked hopefully.

"Maybe another time." Itachi said tapping her forehead.

"Meanie." She mumbled before going "Woooaaahhh!" when he started running again with Kisame right next to them.

After another few minutes the trio had arrived at the girl's house in Patch. When they got up to the door the Uchiha let Ruby down, and she said, "Can we please do that again?"

"Do what?" Itachi asked.

"You know hang out and talk and fight Grimm and stuff. You guys were fun." She said hopefully.

"I don't mind what do you think Kisame?" He asked.

"Sure, I had fun, and this showed me that our dream can indeed be possible just having that honest conversation." He said with another grin.

"Yay!" Ruby said happily with a jump. "Wait how will I contact you guys since I'm going to Beacon tomorrow?" She asked.

"Hmm how about this look into my eyes Ruby." He said.

Ruby looked into the man's red eyes. When she did Itachi smiled. 'No fear at all.' He thought before disappearing into crows. "Now this might feel weird." His disembodied voice went into Ruby's head. "Alright then what happened where'd these crows come fr-" She said before a crow flew into her mouth and down her throat.

"What was that?" She asked coughing as Itachi reappeared and the crows disappeared.

"Anytime you want to see us again just say either of our names three times fast, and the Genjutsu in that bird will tell me that you want to meet. Then we will get over there when we can. I can also sense the bird itself, so I'll be able to find it." He said.

"Well it did feel weird, but thanks Itachi!" She said happily to one of her newest friends? She thinks.

Next Ruby knocked on the door which was instantly opened. In the doorway was Taiyang Xiao Long with a relieved look on his face. "Oh thank Oum where have you been?" He asked.

"Well it was a long night, and I even made some friends." She said looking backwards, but not seeing anyone. 'Meanies.' She thought with a giggle.

 **A/N: Well that was a thing. I hope you all enjoyed it.**

 **To the people who were worried Itachi and Kisame would trust Ozpin have no fears I hate when that happens too because it's usually forced and makes the story boring, and I'll be honest the part with Ruby talking to them both in the forest wasn't really planned either, but it just happened.**

 **Anyways Follow, Favorite, Review, and Whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz Out**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 2

"Well what's our next step?" Kisame asked as they made their way back towards Vale.

"Now we can either wait till morning to go to that store or we can observe more of Vale's night goers." Itachi answered.

"We have all the time in the world to observe some more of the nightlife in this area, so for now let's rest and wait for tomorrow." Kisame said.

"Alright since the Grimm are apparently a threat here then we need to stay observant while we rest. I'll take the first watch when we settle in then you can switch." The Uchiha said.

"Alright there was a clearing up ahead that might be a good place to rest at." Kisame said as they passed into a more familiar area.

"Alright we also need to watch out for any people that might be passing through the area. We don't want to draw any more attention to ourselves right now." Itachi said looking around.

"If the areas outside the city are as dangerous as they say then I wouldn't be too worried about foot traffic. Back in the nations the biggest worry were enemy ninja, but here these people are completely terrified to go out if little red's reaction was anything to go by." Kisame said with a grin. "It doesn't really matter how big these things may get I don't think they will compare to the tailed beasts we had to hunt."

"I'm almost certain there won't be many if any at all that can cause that great a threat, but we still need to be ready in case there are some."

"Yeah I know. This looks like a good spot." Kisame said stopping.

"Sleeping in another tree then?" Itahci asked with a smile.

"Yes there's usually no safer place." Kisame said with a grin.

"Coming from the fish out of water." Itachi grinned.

"The fish that is perfectly happy and willing to shred you to ribbons." Kisame returned the grin.

With that the duo rested with Itachi keeping watch for a few hours before Kisame took over. Unfortunately, in Kisame's opinion, nothing interesting happened, so he just sat there until the sun started to rise. By that point Itachi had woken up and was now sitting against the tree he had slept in.

"Out here all night and not even a single Grimm how strange." Itachi said thinking aloud.

"They might only be attracted to certain things we can research them more today." Kisame said with Itachi nodding.

"So along with history we also need to look into Grimm and this group called huntsmen. After that we can do some recon on the area, and specifically Beacon. We declined their offer, but we still need to be observant of what is happening there." Itachi said.

"Luckily we know someone going to Beacon, so we can also talk to her to keep up with things." Kisame added with a grin.

"While that is true we don't want to do anything that might endanger her time spent there. If she were to get kicked out because she is in contact with us, then that would be disastrous for her own dream of becoming a huntress." Itachi said thinking back to the night before at the station and how excited the girl seemed.

"Yeah you're right… but there's a chance Ozpin might use that relation to swing us over from neutral to his side instead, so he might see it as an opportunity. Basically, we are doing our own recon regardless." Kisame said after a moment.

"Yes now let's go." Itachi said jumping to the next branch and heading in the direction of Vale.

Kisame grinned and followed. 'While we want a world without lies I do hope this new world will be fun.' He thought to himself.

After a few minutes of traveling at Ruby-like speeds the duo reached the edge of the city and settled for walking.

"You know Kisame these cloaks really do stand out don't you think?" Itachi asked.

"You're right, but they stood out back in the nations too." Kisame returned.

"That's true, and here just like there people seem to avoid us." The Uchiha said.

"I don't really mind it's better than pushing through a crowd."

"Crowds are easier to lose people in, but at this point I'm not worried about that. These can also serve as a symbol of our dream like they used to stand for the dream of the old Akatsuki." Itachi mused.

"So keep the cloaks then? Even if we took them off our attire would still stand out with just how different the clothes are, and your weapons would be more visible." Kisame said.

"You're right." Itachi said stopping in front of the bookstore. "Here we are Tuskon's Book Trade." He finished.

"Yes and it looks like it just opened lucky us." Kisame said with his trademark grin.

"With all good luck comes some bad luck and vice versa." Itachi said to his partner. That wouldn't have made much sense at the moment if they hadn't detected another person tailing them.

"Some people just don't give up, but this is a new one." Kisame said.

"You're right this one gives off a different aura as they called it, and the bloodlust is almost palpable." Itachi said before walking into the bookstore.

When they had both entered the bookstore Neo deactivated her illusion and looked at where the two had been standing. 'So these are the two who stopped Roman. The shorter one doesn't look like much compared to the bigger guy, but they both give me a bad feeling.' She thought with a frown. 'Oh well a job is a job I suppose.' She thought before changing her appearance and following them into the bookstore.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"Hi there and welcome to Tuskon's Book Trade home to every book under the sun." The man behind the counter said putting a stack of books down. When he saw the duo he almost jumped back before calming himself.

"Is something wrong?" Kisame asked frowning. He knew that their appearance was frightening to most, but it was still fun to play ignorant.

"Oh nothing at all it's just strange seeing a human and faunas pair walking around together I guess." Tuskon said.

"Is that really so strange?" Itachi asked. "Faunas or no he is my partner."

"Well I guess that makes sense." Tuskon said with a smile. "My name is Tuskon how can I help the two of you?" He asked.

Just then another person entered the store. It was a black-haired girl with green eyes wearing a black and white dress. "Welcome I'll be with you in just a moment." Tuskon called.

"We were looking for some books concerning Remnant's History." Itachi said.

"And anything you have on Grimm." Kisame added.

"I'll check the back for those. They aren't the most popular, so I don't always shelve them up front." Tuskon explained as he went into the back.

After he had gone into the back the duo turned to the girl who had just walked in and had been watching them while pretending to read.

"Now then Kisame let's ask this nice young lady why she's been following us." Itachi said walking to the girl who was now backing away slowly.

Neo was nervous to say the least. 'Oh shit they knew…' She thought backing slowly towards the door.

"Judging by the fact that you're trying to disguise yourself I'd guess you don't want people to see what you really look like." Itachi said. As soon as he activated his Sharingan he saw through the illusion.

"So she's disguised herself has she?" Kisame asked. "It's too bad it didn't work out for you." He finished with a grin reaching up and grasping Samehada by the hilt.

With a small but nervous grin the girl in question disappeared in a flash of white.

"Teleportation? How interesting." Itachi mused before going back to the counter.

"If that was a semblance then we may need to study those a bit closer as well since they don't all seem to be as simple as Ruby's." Kisame said just as Tuskon walked out with a pile of books.

"These" He said pointing to one pile. "are all the history books we have going over the wars and all the other important events in Remnant's history. These few are what I had on the Grimm."

"Thank you do you happen to have anything on aura and semblances?" Itachi added.

"Or perhaps huntsmen?" Kisame asked.

"Yes I can go grab some of those." Tuskon said.

"Oh and if it isn't too much trouble could we read these here then bring them back when we are finished?" Itachi asked.

"Umm I don't see why not if you're going to return them and if you have that much free time." Tuskon said after a moment.

"We have all day, so we should be able to get through everything here." Kisame said with a grin.

"Alright then I'll get the others you asked for." The store owner said walking into the back again. 'What strange people.' He thought to himself.

"I'll go ahead and start on the Grimm books since there are less of them and you're a faster reader than I am." Kisame said grabbing the books and finding a chair.

"Alright remember all you have to do is scan for the important details." Itachi said picking up the history books.

"I know that, but you're still faster with those eyes of yours." Kisame said opening a book and flipping through the pages.

"That's a fair point, but you don't need to be a sore loser about it." Itachi said with a light laugh when Kisame rolled his eyes.

When he sat down his eyes turned red and he began reading each page and flipping through the next ones.

By the time Tuskon came back out with another pile he saw that Itachi was already on his third book while Kisame was about midway through his second book.

"Wow you both read quickly." Tusckon whistled watching them both.

"It's just a skill we picked up." Kisame said not looking up.

"Well here are all the books we have dealing with Aura, Semblances, and Huntsmen. There are also some children's stories mixed in there that deal with those topics." He said.

"Thanks we will read those too." Itachi said. They needed information and while not everything in these books were helpful they were learning a lot.

Once the two had finished their respective piles they switched and read the books that the other had just read. After around an hour Kisame finished with the "rather boring" history books.

After that they started going through the Aura related books. Around midway through the books Kisame found an interesting fairy tale.

"Hey Itachi look at this." He said to his partner.

Itachi looked up from his current book and read the title. "The legend of the silver-eyed warriors huh? That sounds oddly familiar." He said.

"Yes it does we may need to pay attention to some of these legends and fairy tales." Kisame said.

Itachi nodded and they went back to reading. Another hour or so later they returned the books to the front desk.

"I've never seen anyone read so quickly…" Tuskon said shocked. 'They couldn't have gotten all the information in the books when they were reading them so quickly.'

"Thank you." Itachi said. "These were a great help to us."

Tuskon just nodded. "Well I was happy to be of service."

Itachi nodded. "Now then I'm sorry to do this, but you need to forget we were here." He said activating his Sharingan.

Tuskon blinked and looked around to see an empty shop and a pile of books. "What just happened?" He asked putting his hand to his head.

 _Outside the Store_

"Why'd you do that?" Kisame asked.

"Because we already have multiple parties following us. I highly doubt that girl earlier was one of Ozpin's." He answered.

"She did have a different feel to her than the people we met last night." Kisame admitted.

"Exactly my point. It's only been a day and we already have people snooping around. It'd be suspicious to anyone following us to learn we were reading about things that to everyone else is common knowledge."

Kisame nodded in agreement. "Well what do you want to do now?" He asked.

"Well I believe one of the biggest things we have to deal with is the technology gap between our world and this one." Itachi said. "Just based off of what we've seen and what we just read about there is a lot we have to learn about it."

"Right I kept reading about the invention of the scroll and I just kept telling myself that it isn't an actual scroll." Kisame said.

"The question is where can we find one without stealing it if possible."

"There is one person we know here that probably has one." Kisame said to his partner.

"You're right judging by the crow I left with her she hasn't left for Beacon yet and seems to be here in Vale. She might be getting ready to go or just getting last minute supplies." He said.

"Let's give her a quick call then see if she can't help us out with that." Kisame said with a grin.

"Right." Itachi said putting his right hand into the seal of confrontation (Half tiger/ram seal whatever you guys want to call it) and activated his Sharingan.

 _With Ruby_

"Yang you were supposed to have gotten all the supplies you needed for Beacon earlier." Ruby sighed as she and her sister went to a few stores getting supplies both for regular school activities and ammunition.

"Oh lighten up I just need to grab one more thing in this store I won't be but a minute." Yang said.

Ruby just sighed at her sister's antics before a strange feeling washed over her. When she looked into the store window she saw that instead of twin pools of silver looking back at her there was one silver and one red eye with coma markings. "Woah…" She said.

'Ruby can you hear me?' Came the voice of Itachi.

"What? Itachi is that you? Where are you?" Ruby said jumping around and looking for one of her newest friends.

'Calm down I'm not there I'm just speaking through the crow I left with you.' He said.

"Oh" She said looking back into the window.

'Kisame and I wanted to know if you had some time to meet up with us for a few minutes.'

"Well I have to leave for Beacon soon, but with how long my sister is probably gonna take sure." She replied. She got a few weird looks since she was talking to herself.

'Alright we will head over to where you are and be there in a minute.'

"Alright." She said. When she responded the feeling left and her eye went back to normal. 'That looked so cool.' She thought to herself.

About a minute later the two shinobi walked up to the cloaked girl.

"Hey guys." She said with a wave.

"Hi there little red." Kisame said.

"Hello Ruby, I hope your family didn't give you a hard time last night for being late." Itachi said.

"Well they probably would've, but I told them that I got into Beacon and we actually had a short celebration. Speaking of which where'd you guys go so quickly? When I said two new friends helped me get home my dad didn't seem to believe me since he didn't see either of you." Ruby said.

"We didn't want to be seen by anyone else. We are new in town remember, and we've already drawn enough attention to ourselves recently." Kisame said with a grin.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense." Ruby said after thinking for a minute. "Anyways what'd you guys need?"

"We were wondering if you had a scroll." Itachi said.

"Yeah I have one, and if what Yang said is true then we will be getting another one when we get to school." Ruby said happily. "Yang is my sister by the way."

"I see well when you have some time could you show us how to use it." Itachi asked.

"Sure it's pretty fun being able to teach someone else." Ruby said taking out her scroll.

"Speaking of teaching whenever speaking through my crow you can just mentally give your response instead of speaking aloud." Itachi said offhandedly.

"How did you know I responded aloud?" Ruby said blushing.

"Lucky guess really." Itachi said causing Kisame to laugh. "It looks like you guessed right Itachi." He said laughing.

"Hey Ru-" Yang sang out before seeing her sister blushing while surrounded by two bigger guys in weird cloaks. In an instant big sister mode activated and her eyes turned red, and because of that she jumped to conclusions. "Hey get away from my baby sister!" She yelled throwing a punch at the one with black hair.

Itachi looked to the side Sharingan already activated and ducked below the punch before grabbing her arm and flipping her onto the ground.

"Yang! Why are you trying to punch Itachi?" She asked her now prone sister.

She was about to jump up and try again until her sister's question registered.

"Wait Ruby you know these guys?" Yang asked hopping to her feet.

"Yeah these are the guys I told you about yesterday." Ruby said happily.

"They were real?" Yang asked looking to the two guys in front of her. 'The one with black hair is definitely a piece of eye candy, but those red eyes…' She shivered looking into them. 'The blue guy on the other hand is huge and reminds me a lot of a shark who's smelled fresh blood.'

"Rubes how exactly did you meet these nice somewhat terrifying individuals?" Yang asked pulling her sister back slightly.

"They were at the robbery yesterday, and they helped me out." Ruby said.

"Oh I see… Well thank you guys for helping her out, but we really need to catch our ride to Beacon." Yang said pulling Ruby away.

"Yang that ship doesn't leave for another hour!" She shouted to her sister.

"Don't worry Ruby we will see you around just remember how to get in touch." Itachi said turning around and walking into a nearby alley with Kisame following.

 _With Yang and Ruby_

"Yang will you relax?" Ruby asked. Her sister was still pulling her towards the landing ports.

"Ruby what on Remnant were you thinking?" Yang asked.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Those guys! They're a lot older than you are why are you acting so friendly with them?" She asked.

"Can I not be friendly to old people?" Ruby asked somewhat confused.

"What no! I mean… Argh just stay away from those two." She said with a sigh.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"They just make me feel uneasy." Yang said.

"Why they're really nice?" Ruby asked still confused.

"They might not be who you think they are. I can tell those two are dangerous." Yang answered.

"Yeah I know that already." Ruby said rolling her eyes.

"Then you'll stay away from them?" Yang asked hopefully.

"No they may be dangerous, but they haven't done anything but help me out when I needed it, and even when I was a bother to them they were nice." Ruby said defending her new friends.

Yang sighed. She really wasn't getting anywhere with this. "Rubes I'm just worried that you'll get hurt or worse around them."

"I know you're worried, but even though I've only known them since yesterday I trust them." Ruby said.

"Why do you trust them so much?" Yang asked.

"Because I just do." Ruby said thinking of that dream of theirs. It really was a good dream, and she hoped they could achieve it.

"Ruby this just shows you're too immature." Yang sighed.

"I am not immature." Ruby pouted. "I know I can trust them and that's that." She added with determination.

"Fine then Ruby you can trust them." She said while thinking 'I need to make sure she stays away from those two.'

'Wait why'd she change her mind so quickly? Could my own sister be lying to me?' Ruby thought with a frown. 'I'll have to ask those two if they can teach me how to see if someone is lying.'

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"We've gotten quite a bit done today, but now I'm not sure what we should do." Itachi admitted while they were walking through alleys and into streets randomly mapping out the area.

"Me neither, but I'm getting rather hungry." Kisame said.

"Well we don't really have any money." Itachi said looking to his partner with a frown.

"You know that was never really an issue in the past." Kisame sighed.

"I know back then we already had some or we just got it from Kakuzu." He replied.

"Speaking of the other Akatsuki do you think any of them wound up here?" Kisame asked.

"I can't make any guesses to that, but if it happened to us then it's possible." The Uchiha replied.

"Hmm that would be interesting." Kisame said thinking to himself. "Oh well what do you want to do for food? We can steal the money which in all honesty wouldn't be very difficult here, or we can go back to the forest and hunt for food."

"While those are both options one better than the other I might have a slightly different idea." Itachi said thinking back to one of the books they had read.

"Oh? What would that be?" Kisame asked curiously.

"While I don't want to steal with our abilities I'm not above using them to earn money." Itachi said still not really giving an answer.

"Just spill it what is this idea of yours?" He asked with a grin.

"In one of the books we read it mentioned that huntsmen take jobs to clear out Grimm and get paid the bounty." Itachi said.

"Oh bounty hunters then? You're sounding a lot like Kakuzu." He laughed. "If we can get a mission then we can hunt for food, kill some Grimm, and make some money as well, or would it be better to just call it lien?" Kisame said/asked.

"It doesn't matter to me, but it'd draw less attention to just call it lien. There should be a hunter's association building in each of the kingdom capitals meaning there should be one here." Itachi surmised.

"Well then let's go find it." Kisame said.

After that the duo spent another 20 or so minutes trying to find the building by looking and asking other people. They eventually found it and entered the building.

When they entered they approached the front desk garnering the attention of the woman sitting there.

'Not many people here are there?' Kisame thought to himself. He wasn't wrong the lobby area was almost entirely empty except for one guy drinking in the bar area.

"Hi there… How may I help you two?" The receptionist asked looking to the side at the other hunter in the room.

"We were looking for a mission where we might be able to make a few lien." Itachi said with a smile.

"Alright then could I see your hunter's license?" The receptionist asked.

"Oh I forgot that huntsmen need those." Kisame muttered. "Sorry miss but we don't have any licenses."

"Well then I'm afraid I can't let you sign up for any of these missions. They're too dangerous for regular civilians and even huntsmen-in-training." She said.

"Is there any way you could overlook this and give us one?" Itachi asked about to activate his Sharingan.

"N-no I can't now I am asking the two of you to leave." She said.

"What if I go with them?" A slurred voice came from behind them.

"W-what?" The receptionist asked confused.

"They seem eager enough, and I'm in between jobs right now, so if I go with them then we can go kill the Grimm and all it'll cost you two" He said pointing to the two Akatsuki, "is a drink. What do you think?"

"As long as we have enough left over for food then that sounds reasonable." Itachi said looking at the huntsman wearily.

"Alright then I'll take this mission it isn't too difficult." The huntsman said picking a mission to clear out a large pack of beowolves after flashing his hunter's license to the woman.

"Alright then." The woman sighed. "Do try to be careful you always go on missions when you're drunk and now you have people to watch over."

"Don't worry I have a good feeling about these two." The man said.

"Well then what are the mission details?" Kisame asked.

"Eager are we well alright let's talk business at the table over here." He said walking to a table and sitting down.

Itachi and Kisame followed and sat down at the table.

"The one I picked shouldn't be too difficult we need to clear out a large pack of beowolves in the forest a few miles north of the city, and then report back. The payoff is pretty good for the difficulty, so what do you say are you in?" The huntsman asked.

"Is there something difficult about this mission you're not mentioning? Most large beowolf packs tend to have an alpha sitting at the top of the food chain." Itachi said causing the older huntsman to smile.

"Yep you guessed it there is an alpha leading the pack. Mix that with the number of beowolves being in the thirties, and you have a bit of a challenge." He said with a smile.

"If that's all then let's get going." Kisame said standing with Itachi following.

"Wait you both want to go now?" The huntsman asked surprised.

"Yes I'm hungry now, so if we leave now then we get food sooner." Kisame said with a grin.

"Well alright then." The man said standing up and taking a drink of his flask. "First of all let's at least introduce ourselves."

"Kisame." Kisame said. "And this is Itachi." He finished pointing to Itachi.

"Well the name's Qrow nice to meet you." He said before walking in front of them. "In case you don't remember I never said where they were, so I'll take point and get us there then we will see if you could do this alone or not."

"Very well lead the way." Itachi said. When Qrow nodded and started walking Kisame sighed. "If we walk this slowly the entire time my stomach will eat itself." He said. Of course he was exaggerating since being a shinobi often called for eating very little on missions and sometimes only eating food pellets, but it was just fun to complain.

"If you want to speed up then I will, but don't complain if you fall behind." Qrow said smirking and running ahead.

"Running through the crowds is rather inefficient." Itachi said with Kisame nodding. With that they both shook their heads and caught up with the drunken man.

"You guys aren't half bad." Qrow admitted to the two who seemed to be easily keeping up with him.

"Hmph" Kisame grunted. 'We aren't even running that fast.'

Regardless of the ninjas' thoughts on the speed of their run they reached the city limit after a few minutes and continued out into the forest.

"We should be arriving in the area mentioned in the report in a minute or two." Qrow said to the two who gave a nod in response.

'Not the chattiest group are they?' Qrow thought to himself.

"Alright this is the area mentioned in the mission debrief." He said after stopping for a moment and taking a swig of his flask.

By now the sun had started to set, and it would be dark soon which would make this so much harder. With that in mind Itachi activated his Sharingan and started looking for any signs of the pack. He saw a few sets of tracks and pointed them out to the other two.

"Nice eyes kid." Qrow said with a whistle.

"Not the first time you've heard that one huh Itachi?" Kisame asked with a grin.

"You have no idea." Itachi muttered while looking for any other signs. Tracks were great and all, but it could easily be a trap, so it's better to have more definitive proof of the beasts passing through.

Kisame was thinking the same thing since he was also looking around for any other signs. Specifically any abnormalities in the surrounding underbrush.

"The underbrush is crushed in the direction the tracks came from and the direction they go in, so we might as well follow and see what we find." Kisame said to the others who nodded.

"You guys are being really cautious. Most Grimm don't have enough intelligence to lay a trap like the one you're looking for." Qrow said scratching his head.

"Maybe not, but you can never be too sure." Itachi said. 'And I never said I was looking for a trap made by the Grimm.'

The trio followed the tracks until they found a few beowolves in a clearing.

'There aren't many here, so either they got left behind or they're being used as bait.' The three thought. Of course there were some slight variations in what each thought specifically.

"Well if they are bait or if they aren't we still need to kill them." Kisame said bringing his sword to rest on his shoulder.

Itachi caught Kisame's shoulder as he was about to walk by. "Don't go overboard." He whispered.

"I know." Kisame said with a grin.

Qrow couldn't make out what Itachi had said, but he heard Kisame's "I know"

Without another word Kisame jumped out of the tree line into the clearing bringing the tip of sharkskin down onto the head of one unlucky beowolf crushing it.

"Most broadswords don't kill with blunt force, but I guess one rule doesn't apply for all." Qrow muttered before looking to Itachi only to find him gone. "Where did?"

Itachi was a few yards away in one of the trees waiting for Kisame to draw the others out. He didn't know how Kisame would do it, but his partner had surprised him before.

Just then one of the remaining beowolves howled causing a series of howls all around the area to break into symphony.

'That just made this a lot easier.' Itachi thought.

 _With Kisame_

"Hmm calling all of your little friends? Thanks for making my job easier." He said with a grin before sharkskin's spikes came out of different areas of the tape covered blade. With a hungry grin he shredded one of the beowolves that leaped at him. 'These must be the younger ones no survival instincts whatsoever.' He thought as he killed another one.

More beowolves started pouring out of the edges of the clearing all running straight towards the bluish-haired man.

Watching from above Itachi could see the different ages among the group based on the bone plating.

'It didn't say in any of the books, but I wonder when the Grimm start to gain intelligence that can overrule their primal instincts.' Itachi mused as Kisame shredded all the beowolves around him with a smile on his face. 'He is really having a good time.' Itachi added on offhandedly.

Looking around the area some more Itachi found the huntsman in a nearby tree watching like he was.

'I guess he's content to just watch.' Itachi shrugged before looking for his target. 'The alphas usually stay near the back to observe and make a plan. That means he should be around there.' Itachi thought finding a beowolf waiting while some of the others ran past.

"You're rather old aren't you?" Itachi said to himself before silently jumping between the trees and getting above the older and larger beowolf.

He jumped down with a kunai prepared to stab down into the separation in the plates around the neck before the beowolf jumped back looking at him.

'Not that easy I suppose.' He thought before a smile came to his face. "I'll make this quick for you." He whispered before disappearing and reappearing behind the beowolf and going for the neck again only for the alpha to tilt his head slightly to block the blade with his plating.

"If you don't want to do this the easy way then so be it." He said dodging the creature's left swipe.

When it went for lunge attack he ducked to the side and dragged his kunai across the boneless stomach making the wolf howl in pain. Before it could recover he cut off the closest front arm.

"This wouldn't have happened if you would have just died to one of the first two attacks." He said looking to the creature who was currently slowly backing away. "You're my target, so I can't let you escape." He said under his breath before appearing in front of the wolf and shoving his Kunai through the bottom of its jaw and all the way to where he assumed the brain was. There wasn't much information on Grimm anatomy due to the fact that they fade away after killing them.

When the beowolf started fading away showing it was truly dead he went back to the clearing killing a few stragglers on the way to find Kisame sitting in the center of the clearing with a large smile.

"What took you so long?" He asked.

"The beast's instincts weren't bad, so I had to get my hands a little dirty." Itachi said.

 _With Qrow_

'Who are these two?' Qrow thought to himself. The shark faunas just massacred the Grimm around him with a smile, and the black-haired one disappeared before coming out now. 'I assume he went to take care of the alpha it was over there, and that would explain the howls of pain that didn't come from the clearing. I should let Ozpin know about them.' He thought.

With that decided he hopped out of the tree he was in and walked to the duo with a clap of his hands.

"Nice show sharky." He said to Kisame who just looked at him. "I assume you went and took care of the alpha." He said to Itachi.

"Yes I did." Itachi said looking to the older man.

"Well you both did far better than I expected. I thought I'd have to step in and help out especially when you jumped right in." He said looking to Kisame again.

"I enjoyed the opportunity to break loose a bit it's been a while." Kisame said thinking of his last fight with the Blue Beast of the Leaf.

"It wasn't the most elegant display, but it was definitely brutal." Qrow said.

"He's like that." Itachi added.

"Guilty as charged." Kisame shrugged before looking to the now dark sky. "I believe we best be on our way." Kisame said getting nods from the others.

The trio then left at another quick pace this one set by our ninja duo, and Qrow was struggling to keep up. When they finally reached the city limits Qrow spoke up.

"You two are almost as fast as my niece." He said catching his breath. He was very tempted to go crow on them to keep up, but that isn't the easiest thing to explain.

"Your niece?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah from what I recently heard today she and her sister left for Beacon this afternoon." He said before taking another swig from his flask.

Itachi and Kisame looked at each other.

"What is your niece's name?" Itachi asked.

"Why do you want to know that?" Qrow asked narrowing his eyes.

"It wouldn't happen to be Ruby Rose would it?" Itachi asked without answering his question.

"How do you know my niece?" He asked again.

"We met her last night and assisted her in stopping a robbery." Kisame said. "Or at least he did." He gestured to Itachi.

"Oh… well that makes my next question easier. I'm sure you heard of Ozpin right? Well I thought it might be worth your while to go speak to him." Qrow said.

'Not again.' The duo both thought.

"If you want I can help set something up Oz and I go way back." He offered.

"No thanks we already talked to Ozpin last night." Kisame said.

"Oh alright then… I guess that means I'll see you around." He said taking another swig from his flask only to find it empty. "Any who I already sent the message to the Hunter's Association Office from earlier and told them you'd be coming to get it, so until next time." He said with a wave of his hand.

Once he had left Itachi turned to his partner. "This man Ozpin is so important that he assumed we accepted his offer…"

"We definitely need to keep an eye on that academy but look at the Brightside we met little red's uncle." Kisame said with a grin.

"Yes… yes we did, and he is hiding things as well it seems." Itachi said.

"Adults are always hiding things we are no different. At least he didn't seem to lie about anything to us. He genuinely didn't know who we were, so that means he probably hasn't talked to Ozpin recently." Kisame said.

"Yeah you're right. Now then I believe you're the one who has been complaining about hunger, so let's go get that reward." Itachi said.

 _With Ruby_

'Hmm I wonder…' She thought looking into the bathroom mirror. Remembering back to the feeling that washed over her she closed her eyes and tried to find that feeling with her aura. She knew she could call them, but that would make them come here when she really just wanted to talk about something.

After a minute she felt the presence of the crow and pulled at it. After a bit of pulling she felt the feeling wash over her again and looking into the mirror she saw one of her eyes had gone red again.

'Hey Itachi can you hear me?' Ruby thought.

'Well isn't this a surprise I didn't think you'd figure out you can reach out to me through the crow.' His voice came into her mind.

'I wanted to try it, and it worked.' Ruby shrugged before realizing that he couldn't see it.

'Well what do you need?'

'I wanted to say sorry about earlier with what happened to my sister.' She thought.

'It's really not a problem we've been treated to much worse.' Itachi responded.

'I also wanted to ask if you guys could teach me how to catch someone lying.'

'What makes you want to learn that?' He asked curiously.

'I think my sister may've lied to me earlier, and before today I probably would've believed it, so just for future incidents I guess.' Ruby thought.

'I don't see why not you've been helping us, so the least we can do is help you out.' He answered.

'Oh yay! Thank you thank you thank you!'

'Don't worry about it.' Itachi said somewhat overwhelmed by her response.

'Alright and the other reason I wanted to talk was because I had a… rough first day and wanted to talk to someone about it.'

'Go ahead I'm all metaphorical ears.' Itachi said causing her to laugh.

'Alright well you know how Yang reacted earlier? Well when we got onto the ship she kept telling me to stay away from you two because you're dangerous.'

'Well she's not wrong.' He tacked on.

'I know I said I already knew that and she was still worried then she called me immature.' Ruby thought sadly.

'As an older sibling myself I can see where she is coming from I made the same mistakes with my brother thinking he was too young to understand what was really happening, but I found out too late that I was wrong, so she might be too.' He responded.

'Thanks I think.' Ruby paused before saying, 'If you ever want to talk about your brother I'll listen you're helping me destress after all.'

'I'll keep that in mind, but for now back to you what else happened?'

'I was mad at Yang for not believing me then probably lying about it after, so I went off the ship before her and ran into a girl's luggage. She started shaking a vial of dust in front of me and I sneezed blowing us both up.'

Itachi had to hold in a laugh at the mental image that popped into his head.

'Then after that I tried talking to a girl with a bow who helped me out with the luggage girl, but she walked off before I could say anything, and yeah… tiring day.'

'I see that does sound fairly rough compared to what we did today.' Itachi said.

'What'd you guys do?' She asked now curious.

'Well we went to that bookstore and learned a lot about Remnant, the Grimm, and huntsmen. After that we walked around town for a while before deciding to go on a hunter mission.'

'I didn't think non-huntsmen could go on huntsmen missions.' Ruby thought confused.

'Yes we learned that too, but luckily someone you know helped us sign up for the mission.' He said.

'Someone I know? Who? Who?'

'Your uncle Qrow happened to be at the association headquarters when we arrived, and he said he would tag along to make it official.'

'You met my Uncle Qrow! He's the one who trained me to use a scythe!' She mentally screamed.

'Yes we met him, and the meeting went better than the one with your sister by the way. Anyways after doing the mission he suggested we go speak to Ozpin because we were talented or something like that.' Itachi thought.

'Two offers in two days. I don't feel special anymore.' She fake pouted.

'When we told him we already had spoken with Ozpin he assumed we said yes to whatever the offer was.' Itachi finished. 'And didn't you want to be the girl who didn't stand out.'

'Yeahhhhh I did.' She admitted. 'And he must have been impressed by whatever you two did.'

'All he did was see Kisame tear apart some beowolves.' Itachi admitted.

'I feel like there's more to that story.'

'There is, but it wasn't very interesting. If you're interested later then we can tell you about it then.'

'Alright well thanks for this Itachi I'm in a much better mood now.' She thought smiling.

'No problem it has been an interesting conversation something you seem to have a knack for.' He thought with a laugh.

'Anyways! I'm going to sleep wish me luck in the initiation tomorrow.' She said about to undo the link.

'Initiation?'

'You didn't know? Well no of course you didn't. We have initiation tomorrow to decide things like teams and partners and stuff.'

'Interesting maybe Kisame and I will watch from afar to see how you all do.'

'Oh that'd be cool, but what if you get caught?'

'Let us worry about small details like that.' He thought she could feel his smirk.

'Alright then well again goodnight wish me luck tomorrow.' She said before undoing the link.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"What happened Itachi?" Kisame asked curious.

"It looks like Ruby has figured out how to initiate contact between us through the crow." He said.

"Quite the smart girl isn't she." Kisame said.

"Yes she is she wanted to talk about some things. Oh by the way we are gonna teach her how to tell if someone is lying." He added on.

"Sounds fun." Kisame said with a grin. "Anything else?"

"Yes we are going to watch the Beacon initiation tomorrow." Itachi said with a smile.

"Oh goody. But for now finish those noodles before they go cold." He said pointing to the bowl of noodles. They stopped by A Simple Wok after picking up the bounty.

"They're already cold." Itachi muttered.

 **A/N: Well this is probably the longest chapter I've ever written.**

 **Comment response time Yay**

 **Alright anyone who has been worried about Itachi and Kisame telling people about their past don't worry. They won't be adding anyone else to the list of people they tell. Ruby was picked because I have plans for her in the future of this story, and more importantly in a story sense she is that pure, innocent, and honest soul that they see as a representation of what people could be like if their dream becomes reality.**

 **To the guy or girl who said that the duo is stupid because they told her very vague things about their past, and that it is more of a Naruto thing to do I have this to say. Naruto would've told whoever he told that he had died and randomly been brought back to life along with the other stuff. Anyways yeah don't worry they will still withhold info and give half-truths if push comes to shove, but they ultimately want a world free of that stuff.**

 **To those of you wondering if any of the other Akatsuki members will be in the story I will tell you that I have no clue. If you guys want to see some of the other members of the core Akatsuki (i.e. not Tobi/Obito or Zetsu) then let me know, and I will see what I can do. Just a fair warning If I add one member then I will add their canon partner as well because I liked all the interactions between the duos of the Akatsuki. Just know that if you guys don't tell me you want to see someone then I won't bother. TBH I have already thought of a plan with all the core Akatsuki members being in the story as well as the original plan that only had Itachi and Kisame, so I'm willing to write either and adjust as needed I just need to know what you guys prefer.**

 **Did I miss anything? I hope not. if I did then I'm sorry.**

 **As always I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz Out.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 3

Initiation Shenanigans

"Are you ready to do this thing Rubes?" Yang asked excitedly getting her stuff from her locker.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or getting to know you. Just me and my sweetheart." She responded.

"You know you aren't the only one going through initiation right? We all are gonna be doing our best to perform well. Besides what about teams and partners?"

"I don't know I hadn't really thought of that…" Ruby admitted with a frown. 'I wonder how partners will be picked.' She thought to herself.

Yang was somewhat confused at Ruby's silence, but just shrugged it off and walked out to the cliffs with Ruby behind her.

When they arrived, and Ruby had still yet to speak Yang decided to ask. "What's up Rubes you worried about teams and partners?"

"What? No I was wondering how Itachi and KIsame became partners." 'They seem so different yet they are friends I can't imagine how they became partners.' Ruby thought to herself with a small smile.

"You're still thinking about them?!" Yang asked. "Ruby I told you those guys were bad news."

"My dear sister Yang did you not tell me yesterday that I could trust them? You weren't lying to me were you?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes.

"No uh just because you trust them doesn't mean that you need to be around or thinking of them constantly." Yang answered looking to the side.

"I don't think of them constantly one thought just led to another and it got to them." Ruby said crossing her arms.

Their little argument was cut short by Ozpin getting everyone's attention.

"Today you all will be dropped into the Emerald Forest and make your way north to find a set of ruins housing relics. You and your partner will retrieve this relic and bring it back." He said to the group before Glynda took over.

"Partners will be decided today in the forest. The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." She said causing Ruby and a few others to wince.

'Oh this should be fun.' She thought sarcastically.

"There are cameras in the forest to record the progress of all of you, but the faculty will not intervene, so do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path." Ozpin said to the group.

 _With Kisame and Itachi_

"What an interesting way to decide partners." Kisame mused from the spot they were hiding in.

"It doesn't seem very efficient unless they get dropped in certain places." Itachi added.

"Judging by the launchpads they're standing on this might not be as random as they think." Kisame said.

"We'll have to wait until they're launched to know for sure." Itachi said looking over the group of initiates.

"A lot simpler than our academies aren't they." Kisame said more than asked.

"Different world and different enemies, so it makes sense that this is more lax compared to what we went through." Itachi said in agreement.

"Regardless even this doesn't seem very difficult." Kisame said with a frown.

"They aren't ninja Kisame just looking at this group I can already tell that without intervention several won't survive." Itachi said looking to his partner.

"You're right not many stand out, and even the ones that do don't seem very promising." Kisame agreed before pausing. "Hey Itachi… what do you say we liven this up a bit?"

"How do you want to liven this up exactly." Itachi asked looking to his partner warily.

"Make it a bit more difficult. A trial by fire if you will." Kisame said with a grin.

"I'm listening."

"Just follow me." He said before dashing off into the forest.

"I hope he doesn't do something stupid." Itachi muttered following his partner.

The two went through the forest avoiding all the cameras they came across.

"I want to see who will find each other when visibility is… a little lower." Kisame said putting his hands in the position for the jutsu he wanted, but he waited to see if Itachi would disagree.

"Sounds interesting although I wouldn't call it a trial by fire in this case, but no matter." Itachi said with a shrug.

Kisame grinned. "Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu." He said before a mist enveloped the duo along with a large area of the forest.

 _On the Cliff_

"No questions? Good." Ozpin said ignoring Mr. Arc's question and activating the launch pedestals.

When the last one launched with a girlish scream he looked out towards the forest and saw a thick mist forming.

"Glynda… when's the last time you've seen mist in this forest?" He asked.

"Aside from the light mist in the early mornings never unless there is poor weather." She answered looking at her scroll pad trying to find any cameras that could see in the mist. "None of the cameras are picking up anything except for mist."

"I see." Ozpin said taking a sip from his coffee. 'On a perfectly clear day no less how interesting.'

Even if he wanted to Ozpin couldn't interfere in such a way as to stop initiation, so with that in mind he made his decision. "I guess we will just see what happens at the end of this." He said causing Glynda to give him a questioning look.

"Professor Ozpin I know how we told them we wouldn't interfere, but this isn't normal, and with the lower visibility the Grimm will have a much easier time picking off the students." She said somewhat concerned.

"I know that very well, but those who make it out at the end are either very skilled or very lucky. Both of which are important in this line of work." He said sipping his coffee again.

 _With Ruby_

'Where'd all this fog come from?' She asked herself taking in her surroundings. 'I was worried about finding a partner, but with this fog I might not find one at all.' She thought before taking a deep breath.

"Focus Ruby Uncle Qrow trained you for this kind of thing. Just stay calm and focus on your surroundings." She muttered to herself listening for anything out of the ordinary.

Her uncle Qrow had her train in foggy areas in the past, and there she couldn't see anything farther than a few feet in front of her face, so in those situations she had learned to rely more on her hearing and to enhance it with her aura. That's exactly what she did now.

'The wildlife seems to be freaking out over this mist, so it might not be natural. There are pockets of complete silence, so that's probably where the Grimm are since the wildlife always seem to go silent when they're near.' Ruby thought to herself before picking a direction and walking. She still had her eyes closed since the mist was so thick it didn't really matter if they were open or not.

She made it a few feet before hearing a battle close by and judging by the screams the initiate was losing. She readied herself and disappeared in a flurry of petals in the direction of the screams.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"Well I can firmly say they are completely confused." Itachi said to his partner.

"I know… a little chaos is good for them in the long run." Kisame said with a grin.

"Indeed, and it seems that Ozpin has made no move to stop this initiation, so he either has faith in his potential students or he's hoping that the best make it out while the others fall behind." He said.

"They're very green, so he's probably gonna be thinking along the lines of the latter."

"You're right… Kisame have you noticed it?" Itachi asked.

"Noticed what?"

"In the forest there are not only the students, but also the wildlife." Itachi said causing Kisame to raise an eyebrow in question.

"Yes forests are usually teeming with wildlife of some kind. What's your point?" Kisame asked.

"Well it seems that there are pocket areas in the forest that the wildlife are completely silent, and those areas are moving." Itachi said.

"Ohhhh you're right. That must be the Grimm then. I remember reading something about their effect on the wildlife in one of the books we read." Kisame said listening to the surrounding areas.

The two sat in silence just listening to their surroundings.

"You know they aren't doing too badly." Kisame admitted after a few minutes. Sure some of the students were screaming in agony falling to the Grimm, but quite a few seemed to be doing well."

"You're right, and it sounds like Ruby is doing well like we suspected." Itachi said.

"Yes she has taken to this better than I expected… but her partner wasn't as prepared." Kisame said with a frown.

 _With Ruby_

'Just my luck.' Ruby thought to herself jumping between one Weiss Schnee and a beowolf behind her.

Weiss had been the source of the scream earlier when she took a surprise hit from behind from a beowolf.

At the moment they were surrounded by a pack of beowolves.

Weiss could tell that someone else had showed up, but she couldn't quite tell who since they were currently back to back.

"Can you tell where they are?" Ruby asked seriously holding Crescent Rose at the ready.

"No I can't the fog is too thick." Weiss admitted with her weapon also at the ready.

"Alright I'll call out any that get too close to you and take care of the ones on my side." Ruby said.

Weiss already didn't like this idea since she was relying on a stranger, but she didn't have any better options, and if this person was to be her partner then she'd have to learn to trust them regardless.

Ruby dashed forward and brought Crescent around bisecting a beowolf in front of her before ducking under the claw of another.

"On your left!" Ruby yelled to the heiress behind her.

Weiss reacted quickly stabbing at the shape of a beowolf on her left then slashing at its head cutting it off.

Ruby meanwhile had taken another few beowolves down on her side. 'Rather small pack there are only two more on Weiss's side.' She thought to herself before listening closely for any others.

"Weiss there are only two left one directly in front of you and one to your four o'clock. I'll take the one to the side if you take the one in front." Ruby said to her soon-to-be partner.

"Alright." Weiss said lunging forward. Suddenly her instincts were screaming at her to move, so she ducked back to see a beowolf land directly in front of her where she had been not a moment ago. With a quick movement she had set up a glyph beneath her and launched herself towards the beowolf stabbing it in the head.

When she looked around she saw the outline of a person coming towards her, and when she got closer she saw who her savior had been. The girl she rudely yelled at the other day. 'Oh no she probably hates me.' Weiss thought with a barely concealed frown. 'Wait her eyes are closed.'

"Hey…" Ruby said awkwardly opening her eyes. "I guess we should redo our introductions. Hi I'm Ruby Rose." She said.

"Weiss Schnee… and I'm sorry for yelling at you like I did yesterday." The heiress said.

Ruby wasn't really expecting an apology but was happy about it nonetheless. "No problem." She said happily. "I came by when I heard the scream did you get injured at all?"

"No the scream was more because they surprised me." Weiss said embarrassed.

"Alright then. I'm going to make a guess and say you can't navigate very well in fog like this." Ruby said getting a frown from the heiress.

"No I was never trained for low visibility situations like this, which in hindsight was rather poor preparation on my part." Weiss said the last part more to herself than the girl in front of her.

"Well since I've been trained in situations like this I can take the lead towards the ruins." Ruby offered.

"Alright that's fine, but why were your eyes closed a minute ago?" Weiss asked curiosity getting the better of her.

"In a fog like this, eyes can be more of a hindrance than a help." Ruby said.

"How so?"

"When visibility is already low it is more beneficial to focus on your other senses rather than trying to see through the fog." The reaper said.

"So that entire fight you had your eyes closed?" The heiress asked unbelievingly.

"Actually since I landed I've had them closed." Ruby admitted. "It's how I was trained, so I've learned how to avoid trees and stuff when I do this."

"You'll have to explain more of this later on." Weiss said.

"Sure thing, but for now let's go." Ruby said walking ahead.

Weiss did her best to stay behind and follow exactly where the girl in front of her walked.

Ruby was walking through the forest quietly not really sensing anything out of the ordinary until a familiar sensation coursed through her body. 'Hey Itachi.' She thought.

'Hi Ruby sorry to bother you while you're trekking through this fog, but I wanted to ask you something.'

'What is it? And how do you know what I'm doing in the fog?'

'Well I guess I can answer your question first. We know what's happening in the fog because we are at the center of it observing what everyone is doing.' Itachi said.

'Oh I guess that makes sense… wait are you two the cause of this fog?' Ruby exclaimed.

'How perceptive of you. Yes we are the cause.'

'Why'd you guys make it foggy?' Ruby asked confused.

'We wanted to make the initiation more interesting for all parties involved. That and we wanted to see how Ozpin would respond when his students are in a more dangerous situation… Well that last one is what I wanted to find out I think Kisame was just bored.' Itachi said.

'Of course to cure his boredom he would make everyone else's day difficult.' Ruby thought with a laugh. During this time Weiss could see that Ruby was slightly distracted, but since they hadn't slowed down any she didn't think too much about it until she started laughing at nothing.

'I have such a weird partner.' Weiss thought.

'Back to my question how are you traversing the fog so easily? Most of the others are at least being slowed down by it.' Itachi said.

'I've trained in this kind of weather and was taught to focus on my other senses when one fails me.' Ruby said.

'So you aren't using your eyes then?' Itachi surmised.

'Nope Weiss found that weird is it?' She asked.

'Not really in our eyes, but from another student's perspective it probably sounds too difficult.'

'I guess that makes sense we haven't all had the same training I suppose.' Ruby conceded.

'That's true. Well I have my question answered, so I will leave you to it.' Itachi thought.

'Alright I'll talk again later after initiation.' Ruby thought happily.

When the feeling had left she realized they had arrived at the ruins and the fog was much thinner here.

"Ruby I think you can open your eyes now." Weiss said from behind her partner.

"I would agree. Hey it looks like there are some people over there." Ruby said pointing.

"You're right we should go over there and retrieve a relic." Weiss said reminding the rose of their objective.

"Let's go!" Ruby said running ahead getting an eye roll from her partner.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"So what do you think of them?" Kisame asked.

"The ones who made it to the ruins did well, but some were definitely more impressive than the others." Itachi said.

"I know what you mean that redheaded one who was wearing armor was definitely something else." Kisame agreed. She had easily landed and been able to save the screaming blonde who was plummeting to his death by sticking him to a tree with her spear from across the forest in zero visibility.

"There were four or five pairs that were of interest, but the others either died or just weren't impressive." Itachi said standing up. "We learned a lot from this, but there is nothing left to gain here."

"Right." Kisame said standing up.

"Catch." Itachi said throwing something to Kisame that he deftly caught.

"Now where did you find these?" Kisame asked looking at the straw hat he and Itachi had used when first infiltrating the Leaf.

"I had a summoning for them with another set of cloaks in case we needed them." Itachi said putting on his own ringing the small bell on it as he did so.

"I never knew you had a theatrical side." Kisame said with a grin donning his own hat.

"I'm just sending a message to Ozpin and those with him that we are watching." Itachi said with a small smile.

"Alright no avoiding the cameras this time then." Kisame said releasing his jutsu.

As the fog started to lift the duo took their time walking out of the forest.

 _With Ozpin and Glynda_

"The fog seems to be lifting sir." Glynda said looking at her scroll.

"Indeed." Ozpin said looking at his own scroll.

They hadn't been able to get anything from the cameras except for the sounds of fighting and unfortunately the cries of the dying initiates. Now as the fog was lifting however a few cameras were picking up the gentle toll of bells.

'Where could that be coming from?' Ozpin thought to himself.

"Headmaster check camera 13!" Glynda said rather quickly.

Turning to the camera feed from 13 he saw what had her so worked up. Just through the lifting fog he saw the outline of two individuals walking together, and he immediately noticed the very distinctive cloaks they were wearing.

Ozpin was known for being a very calm and collected man, so he was doing his best to keep calm. 'They were able to get into the forest without being seen by the cameras, and they're seen leaving just as the fog lifts.'

"Glynda now that the fog is lifting see who made it to the ruins." He said.

"Four pairs are currently at the ruins but judging by the missing pieces it would suggest that a few other pairs made it before them." Glynda said.

"Which pairs are there now?" Ozpin asked.

"Mr. Arc with Ms. Nikos, Ms. Valkyrie with Mr. Ren, Ms. Xiao Long with Ms. Belladonna, and Ms. Schnee with Ms. Rose." She said before a look of realization hit.

"It seems we've come to the same conclusion. They were here for something, and one possibility is that they were keeping an eye on Ms. Rose who is the only one we know of that has been in contact with these two." Ozpin said. He was somewhat concerned with those two individuals because he couldn't find them in any databases he had access to, so they were complete unknowns who had seemingly just appeared.

Glynda just nodded in agreement.

 _ **Break**_

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. You four retrieved the white rook piece, and from this day forth will be known as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc." Ozpin announced.

"Led by?" The blonde asked.

"Congratulations young man." Ozpin said.

The newly formed Team JNPR walked off stage.

"Finally, we have Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, and Ruby Rose. You four collected the white knight pieces, and from this day forth will be known as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose.

'While Ruby is probably the best choice considering her abilities shown in the forest I still am curious as to why Ozpin picked her since a majority of the initiation wasn't seen.' Weiss thought to herself. 'The only part he would have been able to see was when we fought that nevermore that seemed to have a knife of some kind sticking out of its eye.'

She was wondering when she could ask him about it when he spoke directly to the newly named team.

"Ms. Rose if you have a moment I'd like to speak with you in my office." He said.

"Sure thing professor." Ruby said after a moment. She hadn't done anything that she knew of, so she didn't think it'd be anything bad.

The rest of her team seemed content to wait for her, but Ruby waved them off. "Go ahead guys I'll catch up."

After a moment of thinking on whether they should go ahead without her they walked away towards where their dorm was.

Ozpin then walked ahead and lead Ruby to his office with Glynda next to him.

The three walked in relative silence with the only sound being Ruby happily humming to herself.

When they got to the base of his tower and entered the elevator Ruby's curiosity finally got the best of her.

"So what'd you guys need me for?" She asked looking to the two next to her.

"We wanted to ask you some questions is all." Ozpin replied not really giving much else away.

When they entered the office and closed the door Ozpin took a seat at his desk with Glynda standing to his right. Ruby sat in a chair in front of his desk.

"Now then Ruby we wanted to talk about a few things with you." Ozpin started.

'Probably Itachi and Kisame if they only asked me to come.' Ruby thought. After Initiation and before the ceremony had ended she contacted the duo to tell them about the nevermore, and they mentioned that Ozpin may want to talk to her later. 'They were right.'

"What do you want to talk about?" She asked.

"During initiation as you know there was a heavy fog that lifted around the time that your team and team JNPR got to the ruins." Ozpin said starting off.

Ruby just waited to see where he was going with this.

"When the fog was lifting we saw two individuals leaving the forest. These two were the same people who you met on the night of the robbery." Glynda said.

"Alright." Ruby said still not seeing their question.

"Ruby have you been in contact with these individuals since the night of the robbery?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes I have they're my friends." Ruby said happily.

"Friends you say? Did you know them before the robbery happened?" Ozpin asked.

"Nope." She answered popping the 'p'.

"Alright do you have a way to contact these friends of yours?" Glynda asked this time.

"Yes I do." Ruby said.

"How-" Ozpin started before the doors slammed open.

"Hey Oz." One drunk Qrow said walking into the office.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cheered.

"Wait Ruby it's like the first day are you in trouble already?" He asked.

"No I am not." Ruby huffed before smiling at her uncle.

"Ahem." Ozpin cleared his throat regaining the attention of the room.

"Qrow… to what do I owe this unexpected visit." He asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about some people I met last night who said they had met you." Qrow said.

"And who would these people be?" Glynda asked.

"They said their names were Itachi and Kisame." Ozpin's eyes widened when he heard this.

"How did you meet those two?" Ozpin asked.

"They were trying to sign up for a mission at the HA, so I helped them out in exchange for a drink." Qrow said simply causing Ruby to giggle and Goodwitch to facepalm.

"Alright what about them did you want to talk about?" Ozpin asked.

"Well the mission was pretty simple just a large pack of beowolves with an alpha at the top, so I felt comfortable in my abilities to help them if need be, but they're unlike any fighters I've ever seen." Qrow said.

"You got to see them fight?" Ozpin asked now curious.

"Well no I saw the big guy fight, but the other one disappeared and took care of the alpha." Qrow admitted.

"Well go on then." Glynda said.

"The bigger guy Kisame showed no fear at all and jumped into the center of the pack killing everything in his path. He started with that giant sword of his, but eventually he put it away and started killing them bare-handed." Qrow said. "All the while he had a massive grin on his face, and it wasn't efficient Grimm killing he was taking his time ripping them apart. It was brutal."

"He's that strong…" Ozpin muttered.

"By the time his partner returned looking no worse for wear he was sitting in the center of a pile of fading beowolves." Qrow finished.

"That was definitely more interesting than they said it was." Ruby said to herself drawing the attention of the others in the room.

"What do you mean Ruby?" Qrow asked.

"Well they said it was a rather boring mission when I talked to them last." Ruby said.

"Damn those guys are something else." Qrow laughed. "I'm glad they're on our side."

"What do you mean uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked confused. When he looked around the room he saw confused faces on all of them.

"What?" He asked now also confused.

"Those two when I talked to them said they wanted nothing to do with Beacon." Ozpin said.

"But they said… They never said what you guys talked about… I just assumed…" Qrow said shaking his head and taking a swig from his flask.

"Don't worry uncle Qrow they're like that." Ruby said patting Qrow on the back.

"You make the strangest friends." Qrow muttered to Ruby.

"They might be strange, but they're my friends regardless no matter what Yang says." Ruby said with a smile.

'What'd the firecracker possibly say?' Qrow asked himself before Ozpin regained the attention in the room… again.

"Now that we are all caught up." Ozpin said looking for anyone who may still be confused. "Ruby I was going to ask earlier how it is you contact them."

"I don't know I just do it." Ruby answered. She didn't know exactly how it all worked.

"Well can you contact them now?" Ozpin asked.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

This was not the response Ozpin was expecting he was used to people doing what he asked.

"What do you mean why?" Ozpin asked confused.

"I usually only contact them when I need to talk, or they contact me, but I don't really have anything to talk to them about right now." Ruby said.

"Well is it possible for us to speak to them then?" Glynda asked.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

The duo had a feeling that Ruby's questioning could get out of hand and were waiting around just in case. At the moment they were sitting atop Beacon's tallest tower admiring the view.

"Did you ever visit the Hidden Rain Village?" Itachi asked his partner.

"I might've passed through before, but I never had a reason to go there specifically." Kisame said from his position standing behind the sitting Uchiha.

"In the tallest tower in the hidden rain, the one used by Nagato, there were numerous little perches that he would always sit atop to look over his city." Itachi said.

"Were you and Pain close?" Kisame asked.

"Not particularly in life, but when we were both reanimated we had time to talk." Itachi said with a smile.

"I see." Kisame smiling himself. "Aside from the Akatsuki meetings I never had much to say to him. The fact that he had the supposed legendary eyes of a god didn't make it any easier."

"Don't tell me Kisame you were afraid of him?" Itachi taunted.

"No not afraid just… put off." He said. "From what you've told me when we played catchup on how our lives and reanimations ended I learned that my original feelings on him were right."

"What feelings were those?" Itachi asked looking back to his partner.

"That the Pain we all saw wasn't quite the real one." Kisame said. "The biggest clue was that there were more than one of him."

"You met more than one of the Pains?" Itachi asked.

"Yes the one I initially met when Madara made the meeting between us happen was a different one than the one he appeared to the rest of us as. Different piercings, features, everything really." Kisame said.

"Ah when Nagato explained who he was he told me a bit about the different Pains and it was all very interesting. The Rinnegan is truly a terrifying thing." Itachi admitted.

"I knew it was powerful, but I never got to see it in action. For you to praise it so highly the legends about it must be true." Kisame said with a grin.

"Indeed." Itachi said before he felt Ruby reach out to him. "Be ready Ruby is calling." He warned his partner.

"Right." Kisame said.

'Hey Itachi Ozpin and the others want to talk to you.' Ruby said.

'Ruby are your eyes opened or closed right now?' Itachi asked curiously.

'They're closed I don't really know how I would explain one of my eyes turning red.' Ruby internally giggled. Luckily for her she didn't laugh aloud this time.

'Alright I was just curious.' Itachi said. 'Do you want us to come in?'

'Well I don't really see what good it will do since you guys have already talked to the headmaster, but why not. Uncle Qrow also says hi.' She added.

'We never did buy him that drink. Maybe we could drop in and thank him again.' Itachi mused.

'Alright I guess I'll tell them you're coming.' Ruby said before cutting the connection.

"Well then Kisame I have no real reason to talk to Ozpin again, but Qrow is in there, and it might be nice of us to thank him again since we never bought him that drink." Itachi said to his partner who just grinned and nodded.

"How should we go in? The ground is pretty far away and jumping down only to come back up in an elevator would be rather pointless." Kisame said.

"You're right… I don't like breaking and entering, but that would be much faster. Kisame if you would." Itachi asked walking to the edge of the building and down to just before the top of the windows to Ozpin's office.

"With pleasure." Kisame said bringing out Samehada and following his partner before bringing his sword down onto the window.

 _With Ruby_

'That's a familiar looking-'

 _Crash_

'Sword…' She thought before facepalming.

The rest of the room immediately grabbed their weapons and looked to the now broken bulletproof glass.

In a blur of black two figures appeared at the broken window.

"I apologize for the mess." Itachi said walking away from the edge of the room.

Kisame just grinned and put Samehada back on his back.

"So I heard you wanted to talk to us again for some reason." Itachi said looking to Ozpin before looking at Qrow. "Thank you again for your help the other day."

"No problem." Qrow said.

"I was curious as to why you both decided to sit in on our initiation." Ozpin said not putting his cane away.

"Well Ruby mentioned it to us yesterday, and we decided we'd watch and see what it is." Itachi said.

"Fairly boring in all honesty." Kisame said from the side.

"Speaking of Ms. Rose how is it that you communicate with her? All she did to call you was close her eyes and wait." Ozpin asked.

"That unfortunately isn't really anything I need to tell you." Itachi said looking to the headmaster. "Even Kisame here doesn't know exactly what it is. He knows how it works, but he doesn't know exactly what it is. So if my trusted partner doesn't know why should you?" He finished.

"As the headmaster it is my duty to ensure the students' safety, and something like that is too suspicious." Ozpin said narrowing his eyes before widening them slightly at Itachi's smile.

"I see… it is your duty to keep them safe. Then why is it that for the initiation today you didn't stop it when the mist settled in? Your cameras couldn't pick up anything but sound, and there were probably more casualties than your normal initiations." Itachi said.

Ozpin remained silent. While his reason was better in the long run it was still making the choice to sacrifice the weak to find the strong.

"That's what I thought. When we met you said you weren't the gambling type, but here you are making another gamble." Itachi said with a shrug. "Well if that's all then I believe it's time to turn in for the night what do you think Kisame?"

"Sure it's been a long and dull day." Kisame said.

The two started turning towards the window. "Well this has been rather uneventful." Itachi said aloud before looking to Ruby. "Next time you call let's talk about something more interesting."

"I told you that it would be like this." Ruby defended.

"You're right…" Itachi thought with a chuckle. "Oh well until next time Ruby, Qrow." He said about to leave before a purple aura surrounded the two shinobi.

"Hmm how interesting." Kisame said as he stopped glowing. 'It looks like Samehada has taken a liking to the purple aura.' He thought.

'What? What happened to my semblance? Well I still have one.' Just as she thought this she looked back to Itachi only to find Ozpin trapped in her semblance.

"My apologies Headmaster!" Glynda said worriedly as she released her semblance.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Ruby shaking her.

The shaking caused Goodwitch to look at the young Rose.

"What do you-" She started before turning back around to find Ozpin looking at her strangely from where he had been standing. She then noticed a distinctive lack of cloaked individuals in the room.

"What just happened?" Glynda asked.

"You attempted to stop them from leaving. It didn't work on the blue guy for some reason, and you suddenly apologized to Oz and let the black-haired one go." Qrow said also looking at her strangely.

"But…" Glynda started before shaking her head. "I apologize Ozpin I must've been seeing things."

"What exactly did you see?" Ozpin asked bridging his hands together on his desk.

"I looked at Kisame was it? And saw my semblance wasn't working, and when I looked back at the black-haired one I saw you trapped in my semblance instead." She said.

'Interesting. Illusions maybe?' Ozpin mused.

Meanwhile Qrow was whispering to Ruby. "Your friends are really strange, but I gotta say they're pretty fun."

"I know right! I don't know why Yang doesn't like them." Ruby whispered back.

"Ms. Rose… is there anything else you can tell us about those two?" Ozpin asked after a moment.

"Not really their life isn't my story to tell. If they want to tell you then they will, but otherwise…" She finished with a shrug.

"Well… I do look out for my students when need be, so for that reason I must advise you not to interact with them anymore." Ozpin said.

'Yang all over again geez… maybe they're just afraid of them.' Ruby thought with a stoic face. 'They always say that the greatest fear is the unknown, and for them Itachi and Kisame are complete unknowns. Completely dangerous unknowns, but unknowns nonetheless.'

With that thought in mind Ruby responded. "Until I see how they are a danger to me or those around me I will continue to be their friend. Like uncle Qrow said they're very good at fighting, and honestly they're faster than I am if they wanted something from any of us they could probably just take it." Ruby said with Qrow nodding in the back.

"You saw it Oz the way they carried themselves. Their reaction when they came in the window with our weapons pointed at them was blank it didn't even phase them. Let's not forget the window either think about what it's made of." Qrow finished before taking a swig of his flask only to find it empty. "Anyways later Oz." He yelled waving as he walked out.

"If that's all it's getting rather late, and I need to get back to my team." Ruby said before speeding out of the office.

Glynda and Ozpin just sat in silence processing everything that had happened.

"Glynda we need to keep a watch on those two, and by the sounds of it Qrow and Ms. Rose won't be very cooperative." Ozpin said.

"They're fast Ozpin you heard what Ms. Rose said. If that is true and they're faster than her matched with the fact that they entered the Emerald Forest without being seen by any of our hidden cameras, then I don't know who we could send after them that could keep up." Glynda said frowning.

Ozpin thought about that point. "You're right it would be a waste of resources and time… in that case notify some of the hunter teams around Vale to just keep an eye out for them. As for the school we need to make sure that they don't have free reign walking around like they are now. You noticed too that they came from the roof."

"Yes I did notice that." Glynda admitted.

"We need to increase our own security. They don't seem to be hostile now, but that can change, and if they can get around the system then who's to say others can't do the same?" Ozpin asked.

Glynda's eyes widened. "The queen has pawns." She muttered remembering Qrow's message.

"Precisely just because we have a new unknown doesn't mean we can forget the real enemy."

 **A/N: Well this took a while, but I'm not sure why. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Last time I told you guys to decide if I should add other Akatsuki to the story, and after tallying it all up more people who reviewed wanted it to stick to just our morning mist duo, so it's just those two. If you read the reviews quite a few had pretty good arguments for keeping just those two, so if you aren't happy with that decision sorry, but see what others said then think about it.**

 **Most of the reviews were about that stuff above. Thank you everyone for the reviews they are pretty helpful.**

 **There was one review that asked about romances in this series. To be honest I have no idea. In my last story a few romances happened just as I was writing they weren't really planned, and since this story isn't as thought out yet as that one please leave some suggestions for ships you might want to see. As long as I don't despise that ship for whatever reason then I'll consider it.**

 **Until next time Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I Don't Own RWBY or Naruto obviously**

Chapter 4

 _With Ruby_

'Well that was fun I guess.' Ruby thought skipping through the halls to her dorm.

When she got there, she was met with stares from her three teammates.

"Hey guys." Ruby said happily falling into the empty bed.

"Hey Rubes, what'd the headmaster want?" Yang asked curiously.

"He wanted to ask me about Itachi and Kisame." Ruby said simply immediately catching Yang's interest.

"Why did he want to ask you about them?" Yang asked.

"Something about initiation. They were in the forest during the initiation, so he wanted to know if I could contact them yadda yadda yadda." Ruby finished lazily enjoying her soft bed.

Weiss finally spoke up. "Who are they?" She asked.

"Friends of mine." Ruby said immediately upbeat again. Weiss and Ruby missed Yang's wince, but Blake didn't.

"Why were they in the forest?" Blake asked still looking at Yang.

"They wanted to see what the initiation was when I mentioned it to them, so they came to see it." Ruby answered.

"Right… Ruby why don't you go take a shower, you're still in the clothes you wore during initiation." Yang suggested. Ruby sighed but got up and went into the bathroom.

When she heard the sound of running water Yang looked to the other two.

"I know we just met, but I need to ask you a favor." She said to the other two.

"What kind of favor?" Weiss asked.

"I need to keep her away from those 'friends' of hers. I don't trust them. They're older guys, and I don't think a girl like Ruby should be hanging out with people like them." Yang said.

"Ruby does seem like the kind of girl who would befriend just about anyone, so I can see what you're worried about, but why don't you trust them?" Blake asked.

"Well I met them yesterday when we were in Vale, and they were getting way too close to her if you know what I'm saying." Yang said thinking of the blush Ruby wore, and the laughing from the blue one when she first saw them.

The other two just nodded. "Alright we'll keep an eye on her in case you aren't around." Blake said.

Yang looked thankful but couldn't say anything because the bathroom door opened up revealing a fresher Ruby.

"Alright guys we should get to sleep we have classes tomorrow morning." Ruby said yawning.

With that the newly formed team went to sleep.

 **Break**

 _With Kisame and Itachi_

"What's on the agenda today?" Kisame asked as they walked through the mostly empty streets of Vale.

"Well I suppose we should continue with our observations of Vale since that's the closest major city. We know Beacon can't be trusted, but we don't know much about Vale itself." Itachi said.

"See what we can find out in the city itself then?" Kisame asked before grinning. "If you want to know something in a city ask the rats."

"Let's see if this young lady can help us with that." Itachi said.

In her defense Neo was doing a much better job at stealthily trailing the two, but against real ninja there isn't much she can hope to accomplish.

"Yes it seems our illusion making friend might be of assistance." Kisame agreed before the two seemingly disappeared.

'Where'd they-' Neo suddenly felt a pressure on her shoulder making her freeze in place. When she looked to her left she saw the massive blade Samehada resting on her shoulder draining her aura.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' She cursed trying to activate her semblance to escape.

"Relax." Came Itachi's calm voice.

"We aren't going to hurt you we just wanted to ask some questions and thought you might be able to answer them." Kisame said lifting Samehada off her shoulder. He was satisfied thinking he took enough of the girl's aura.

She slowly turned around to face the two who were watching her patiently.

"What do you want?" She typed out into a scroll.

"We want to know why you've been tailing us around Vale." Itachi said.

"I'm not at liberty to answer that." She typed staring into the man's red eyes.

"I see." Itachi said simply. "Your employer… is it the orange-haired man from the other day?"

Neo didn't want to give anything away but lying in this situation seemed like a very bad idea, so she gave the smallest nod of her head.

"Would you say your employer is smart or cautious?" He asked.

She nodded again not getting where this was going.

"So someone is above your employer." Itachi guessed noticing her eye twitch. 'Guess I was right.' He thought.

"If he was smart or cautious then he probably wouldn't have sent you back after us with how poorly that went last time, so I assume he isn't in charge, and the one truly in charge isn't really worried about your wellbeing." Itachi surmised to the girl in front of him.

"Well if that's the case then can you take us to your employer's boss?" Kisame asked with a grin.

Neo wasn't really sure what to do. She knew she couldn't trust the two in front of her, but she trusted Cinder even less. She really hated that flaming bitch. 'I don't know what to do…' She thought to herself. 'What's worse is I'm actually considering it.'

Making up her mind Neo looked up at the two and typed something out. "No, I won't take you to his boss, but I can get you into contact with _my_ boss."

"Very well." Itachi said with a nod. "You can probably find us around here when everything is ready."

"If you turn out to be lying to us then we will just hunt you all down, and deal with you then." Kisame said with a grin.

Neo quickly nodded before running off.

"So what do you think?" Kisame asked his partner.

"I'm not sure yet. There are many possibilities. She could stick to our agreement which would be the best-case scenario, but two other possibilities are sticking out to me." He said.

"Either she will run or…" Kisame started.

"She will set up a trap for us." Itachi finished. "Either way it doesn't matter. Worst case scenario we hunt down the man from the other day and go from there." Itachi said walking out of the alley they had been in with Kisame following.

"It's not like it'll be more difficult than hunting the damn jinchuriki." Kisame said when they were back on the street.

"Agreed, but for now we should probably find something else to do." Itachi said. Neither of them were really in a hurry to do anything since they didn't have anything specifically to do.

That is until Kisame thought of something. "You know it's been a while. Why don't we have a quick spar?" He asked with his signature grin.

"It has been a while." Itachi said with a small smile. "If we do this then we don't need to be anywhere near the city. It'd draw too much attention."

Nodding in agreement Kisame thought for a moment. "Even outside the walls of the city we don't know where people might randomly be, so we might need to get a second opinion on this." He said.

Itachi nodded and made the half-tiger seal.

 _With RWBY_

RWBY was sitting in Professor Port's class listening to his stories of the past. Well maybe not really listening. Yang was slumped on the desk probably asleep. Blake was reading and occasionally taking notes when the teacher said something important. Weiss was actually taking notes and attempting to keep her leader on task. Ruby was doing just about anything she could to keep herself occupied.

She stopped trying to balance a pencil on her nose when she felt that familiar feeling wash over her. With a small smile she closed her eyes. 'Hey Itachi.' She said.

'Hello Ruby, I apologize if you're in the middle of a class, but Kisame and I were wondering something.' He said.

'Don't worry you're actually giving me something to do. This class is sooooooo borrrringgggg.' She mentally sighed.

'Classes are important even if they are boring.' Itachi thought with a chuckle before getting back to the reason of his call. 'Do you know of any private places where Kisame and I could spar?'

'How private?' Ruby asked thinking.

'Maybe a five-mile radius as long as we don't do anything over the top.' Itachi answered.

'Hmm that's a big radius… I don't know of any places within the city, but if you wanted to leave the city then I might know of a few places. My uncle took me to a lot of different places beyond the city for those training trips.' She said.

'Outside the city was our preference anyways.' Itachi thought.

"Miss Rose."

'Alright then I can tell you where-' Ruby started before Port yelled loudly.

"Miss Rose! Do refrain from sleeping in my class." He yelled causing the girl to blink multiple times and look around finding her team awake now too.

It took her all of five seconds and the looks of surprise on her teammates faces when she realized she had both eyes open.

'Uh oh.' She thought causing some minor confusion for Itachi. 'My teammates and teacher just saw my red eye.' She thought before counting down in her head. '3, 2, and 1.'

"Ruby what happened to your eye!" Yang yelled causing her sister and Blake to wince although for different reasons.

Ruby grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. 'This is gonna suck Yang already doesn't like you guys.' She thought to Itachi before looking to her sister. "We can talk about this back in our room." Ruby said just as the bell rang. "If you want to talk about it, then we can do it during the lunchbreak."

With that Ruby packed up and closed her eyes momentarily offering a quick apology to Itachi before cutting the link.

Yang didn't seem to want to wait, but Blake put a hand on her shoulder. "We can find out during lunch. It's only one more class." She reasoned causing her blonde partner to nod slowly before packing up her own stuff.

When the team left Port continued looking to where they had been sitting. 'I have a feeling Ozpin is going to want to hear about this. It's not everyday that your student's eye changes colors.' He thought to himself before making a note for himself to call the headmaster later.

 _With Kisame and Itachi_

"Well we might have to hold out on sparring for now." Itachi said before explaining what happened.

"It was bound to happen eventually." Kisame said when he finished. "I guess we'll stick around here just in case." He added.

"Maybe it won't be a total loss." Itachi said looking to a familiar person walking towards them.

"That was fast." Kisame muttered as Neopolitan walked up to them and beckoned them to follow her.

"You're right. Just be ready for anything." Itachi said before following the girl.

 _With RWBY_

The lunchbreak has just started and Ruby already finds herself being pulled towards their dorm by an impatient Yang.

"Yang relax I'm not gonna run off anywhere, so let go." She said making her sister look at her for a second before letting go of her wrist.

"Alright but you have a lot of explaining to do." Yang said. 'It's the same eye as that man's.' She thought to herself. She blamed herself for not preventing this.

Ruby just sighed and shook her head. 'Uncle Qrow likes them why can't Yang?' She asked herself.

Their teammates were just following behind more curious than anything.

When they entered the room, Ruby decided to sit on Weiss's bed rather than her suspended one, so she could still look at and see her teammates.

Weiss didn't visibly object, but she internally sighed at her leader just sitting on her bed without asking.

Regardless the heiress sat down next to her dolt of a partner while Blake sat down on her bed. Yang decided to remain standing.

"Well?" Yang asked.

"Well what?" Ruby asked back. "You'll need to be more specific with your questions."

"Why did your eye look like his!?" Yang shouted earning looks of confusion from the other two.

"Because he's the one who gave it to me." Ruby responded calmly.

"What does that mean?" Yang yelled her own eyes turning red.

"Exactly what I said. Whenever we communicate my eye changes to look like his." Ruby said before noticing the lost looks on her teammates' faces. "I don't know exactly how it works I just know it does, and we are talking about those friends of mine Itachi and Kisame, or in this case specifically Itachi." She said clarifying to her teammates.

"So whenever you communicate with this friend of yours your eye turns red?" Weiss asked before pausing. "You talked to him during the initiation, didn't you?" She asked.

"Guilty as charged." Ruby said shrugging her shoulders. "I didn't mean to laugh out loud like I did, but I just couldn't help it at the time."

"I was sure you were insane when you did that." Weiss said. "It doesn't make sense for me to say this because of what we're talking about, but it does make more sense."

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself." Blake added in from her spot. 'Just who are these friends of hers.'

Almost as if reading her mind Ruby smiled to the two. "It'd probably make more sense if you were to meet them. Next time we go into Vale I'll let you guys meet them, and then I'll let you make your own judgements on them. Yang doesn't like them, but my Uncle Qrow does." She said sticking out her tongue to the blonde still standing where she was.

"Wait how does Uncle Qrow know them?" Yang asked.

Looking at the clock and seeing their break was almost over Ruby decided to tell that story later. "He met them the other night, and I'll tell you more about it later, but for now we have class." She said causing the others to look at the clock.

"The next class is on the other side of the school we need to hurry!" Weiss yelled running out of the room. She would not have a tardy on her first day at Beacon.

"Here we go again. Let's go!" Ruby shouted speeding off after her partner.

Yang was still gathering her thoughts, but she shook her head and looked to her partner. "Let's go Blakey!" She yelled running out.

"Don't call me that!" Blake muttered to herself before following after the rest of her team.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

'She's still low on aura.' Itachi noted with his Sharingan as they followed the girl.

The three had been walking for a few minutes before finally entering into the criminal district, or as it used to be known the old business district.

"How much further?" Kisame asked growing bored of this already.

Neo rolled her eyes. If he didn't stop asking that question every 30 seconds she would do her damnedest to stab him.

"Patience Kisame." Itachi said looking to his partner with a concealed smile.

Before Kisame could give a retort Neo stopped in front of them. Turning around she took out her scroll and typed into it. "He doesn't exactly know why I told him to come here, so don't be surprised if he reacts… poorly." She typed with a grin.

"Ohhh I think I'm starting to like her." Kisame said matching her grin.

"Wonderful now there are two of you." Itachi mock complained.

The grinning duo smirked to each other.

'Even though I don't trust them they're kind of fun.' Neo admitted to herself before walking into the warehouse she had told Roman to come to. Knowing him it would be a while before he showed up, so in the meantime she could try and learn more about this mysterious duo.

Itachi was looking for any other aura signatures in the immediate area, and not finding any aside from their own. 'I could've sworn she would try and lead us into a trap.' He thought before shaking his head. 'This could still be a trap.' He thought looking to the shorter girl in front of him.

'He's smart not to trust me.' She admitted to herself. 'Too bad he's wasting his time now though. Roman wants out of this damned job as much as I do.'

Kisame meanwhile was watching the both of them. 'If Ruby was born on the darker side of the law she probably would've ended up like this girl, but she'd probably still be kind to a fault like Itachi.' He thought to himself with a chuckle.

Kisame wasn't really worried about a trap if he was being honest. Even after death he always had a knack for getting a good feel on a situation, and this one unfortunately screamed boring.

After a few minutes the door to the warehouse opened revealing one Roman Torchwick.

"Neo! What's so important that I had to sneak away from the hideout?" He asked looking at her and then noticing the presence of the other two in the room.

Neo just waved him over. Roman looked towards the black-haired one cautiously, and slowly walked forward never putting his cane down. That ability of his was a complete unknown, and Roman hated the unknown.

"We have no reason to fight you here, so just hurry up." Kisame said causing the man to tense up before walking forward.

'If Neo is so calm around them then I guess I'll see where this goes.'

When he walked up he saw Neo turn around and lead them into another room that had a table.

The ninja decided to humor her and sat down at the table with Roman and Neo sitting across from them.

"Alright… Neo… explain." He said.

Neo shrugged towards the other two. "They wanted to talk." She typed.

Roman facepalmed. "Alright then gentlemen what can I do for you?" He asked looking to them.

"Hopefully answer our questions." Itachi said. "Why is it that you keep sending…

"Neo." Roman offered.

"… Neo to spy on us?" Itachi asked.

"Well after you decided to help out little red that painted you as a possible threat, so Neo was sent to find out more about you." Roman answered.

"I understand that, but what I don't quite understand is why she was sent back after us after she failed the first time." Itachi asked. Neo on the side bristled a bit at the reminder of her failure.

"I wanted her to try again since she hadn't learned anything the first time, and she got away pretty easily the last time." Roman said.

"You wanted her to try again? Or did your employer want her to try again?" Itachi asked staring into the man's visible green eye.

Roman narrowed his eyes and sent a sidelong glance towards Neo who looked away. "I see." He said after a moment. "What do you really want?"

"What we want is simply information." Itachi said causing Roman to give him a questioning look.

"What kind of information?" The thief asked.

"Currently we are looking for all kinds of information, but from you we are looking for information on Vale's underground as well as your employer, and if they have one their employer as well." The Uchiha answered.

"Alright and what exactly would I get out of this?" Roman asked. Double-crossing Cinder was basically a death sentence. If the reward wasn't worth the risk, then there was no way he'd make this deal.

"Well I already have an idea, but what is it you want?" Itachi asked.

Roman paused in thought for a moment. "Frankly speaking I haven't the slightest idea who you two are, so I'm not really sure what you could offer me that'd be worth selling out my boss." He said.

"What if we could free you from your boss's grasp. It's apparent that at least one of the two of you doesn't like them, or else this meeting would've just been an ambush or another kind of trap." Itachi said looking to Neo who just stared back at him.

"I'm not sure who you two think you are, but I don't imagine you'd be able to beat that witch." Roman said flatly.

"That would be our problem to worry about, but I can understand your concern." Itachi admitted. 'He's worried that if we were to lose then he would be in a bad position.' He mused.

"If your boss wants to know about us then we are more than happy to meet her." Kisame said with a grin.

'These two are either stupid or mad.' Roman thought to himself. 'But she did want to know more about them… maybe something good will come from this train wreck of a week.'

"She has taken an interest in the both of you, so a meeting with her isn't impossible." He admitted.

"That's good to hear then. If you can make this happen then we'll get back to our negotiations another time." Itachi said before nodding to Kisame.

"Ice creams already heard this, but if you try and lead us into a trap we'll rip you all to pieces." Kisame said with a dark grin.

"I'll keep that in mind." Roman said adjusting his hat and standing. "Neo will come find you both again when everything is ready, but don't do anything that'll get us all killed please." He said before turning around and leaving with Neo.

"His boss must be quite strong if he is that scared of her." Itachi said thinking aloud.

"Maybe so or it's just that she's stronger than him." Kisame added.

"Regardless things are going well, so let's not mess any of this up as we go." Itachi said.

"Coming up with a plan already are you?" He asked.

"You could say that." Itachi said with a smile. "For now, we should get out of here, and then probably check in on Ruby." He added.

"Good idea, but after that I want to hear this plan of yours." Kisame said.

"I'm still working out a few minor things, but that shouldn't be a problem." Itachi said standing.

With that the duo left the warehouse and made their way back towards the center of the city again familiarizing themselves with the ins and outs of the large city.

 _With RWBY_

The team had just finished eating dinner with team JNPR and were heading back to their dorm.

"Alright Rubes I think now's a good time to tell me about how Uncle Qrow knows your two… friends." Yang said. The word friend leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

"Oh right that. Well I actually just got the full story from Uncle Qrow last night." Ruby admitted as the four walked into the room.

"Well go ahead and tell me about it." Yang said. 'Maybe this'll explain why she thinks Qrow likes them.

"Alright then Team Story Time." She shouted drawing the attention of the other two who just sighed and walked over to the two sisters before everyone sat in a circle.

 _Ozpin's Office_

"What do you think this could mean?" Glynda asked.

"I'm… not sure Summer never reported having her eyes change colors, and she doesn't have Branwen blood as far as the records state." Ozpin said thinking to himself. 'Why do I feel like those two are involved in this?'

 **A/N: Well here this is. As usual I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **By the way this is closer to my usual chapter length just in case you didn't know about that.**

 **Review reply time Joy**

 **As always thank you for the reviews I always enjoy reading them, and yes that includes the more negative ones.**

 **First things first someone asked about the romances in the other chapter and I said I didn't know. I can say for certain that there will be NO harems in any of my stories. Sorry to anyone disappointed by that, but tough luck.**

 **Next I will admit that yes Itachi does act OOC from time to time, and really that's just because I want him portrayed like that. While he hasn't actually given out his kill count he did admit to Ruby that he had killed more than once, and Kisame mentioned the Uchiha Massacre, and even Ruby isn't that thick.**

 **Next Yes I admit the we aren't from Remnant thing isn't vague I'll give you that one, but oh well I don't plan on going back to change something that trivial. Onto the other part of that review I'm somewhat doubting you've seen all of Naruto, or specifically the parts about Kisame. You can look it up or watch it yourself if you'd like, but the only reason Kisame joined the Akatsuki in the first place was to see Madara's world without lies or world of truth whatever it was called. With that in mind it makes sense for those two to want a world like that. Their world of deceit and deception brought so much pain and suffering for the both of them.**

 **SPOILER ALERT: Itachi lived most of his adult life as a lie, and you know that was killing him on the inside not being able to be there for his brother as the older brother he wanted to be, but the obstacle he made himself into. Kisame thought that he had been doing the right thing according to Fuguki by killing his comrades to keep information safe only to find out Fuguki had been lying to him the whole time and selling information to other villages anyways. All in all he was killing his own comrades for nothing, and that's partly why he went and killed Fuguki.**

 **Spoiler End**

 **They both have a reason to want a world without deceit and without lies, and while it is a pretty impossible dream to achieve that's specifically why it's a dream.**

 **Anyways I think those were all the ones that needed a response to them.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 5

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"Let's see if this person will be interesting or not." Kisame said looking at the doors they had stopped in front of.

"With how long it took them to get ready I hope it isn't a waste of time." Itachi muttered more to himself than his partner.

After a few days wait with nothing of interest happening the duo had finally been sought out by their multicolor-haired friend. They were then led through the city to what they had been told was the meeting place. Roman had joined the group partway through the trip, but now that they were here the two criminals had gone through the doors and told them to wait a moment.

"If they were going to set a trap it would probably be right now." Itachi said causing Kisame to nod.

"If it is a trap then we can at least have some fun with them. We still haven't had that spar and I'm getting restless." Kisame said with a dark grin.

"Just don't attack first. If they make the first move then we will go from there." Itachi instructed.

"Right." Kisame said as the door opened revealing Neo motioning for them to come in.

When the two entered the dimly-lit room, they took note of several things. Neo moved off to the side next to Roman, but they just stood and waited. A woman was sitting in what almost looked like a throne near the end of the room. Two individuals were standing behind her partially hidden by the shadows. Finally, another individual was standing on the other side of the room with his back against the wall. Even with the mask on Itachi and Kisame could tell he was staring at Kisame.

"So… you two are the ones who interrupted our robbery the other day." The woman in the chair said motioning for them to come closer which they did slowly.

"We just happened to be nearby." Itachi said staring into the woman's almost glowing eyes.

"I see…" She said standing and walking up to the two. She stopped in front of Itachi and put a hand to his cheek.

Itachi had never taken his eyes off the woman, but he wasn't looking at her like she thought he was. He was looking into her very soul looking at the strange aura the woman had it wasn't natural. 'She is different.' He thought before speaking. "Is that really necessary." He asked leaning his head slightly to the side away from her hand.

Cinder narrowed her eyes but put her hand down nonetheless. "Why did you want to meet me?" She asked.

"We all have questions it seems and want answers. Why did you send Neo to spy on us?" Itachi asked the woman.

"I heard from Roman what you did during the robbery, and what he told me was interesting."

"What exactly did he tell you?" The Uchiha asked.

"He told me about a man with black hair who summoned a flaming skeletal arm to protect a girl from an explosion." Cinder said looking at him. "And that interests me very much." She finished with a sultry smile.

"I take it you're interested in my abilities then?" Itachi asked.

"I most certainly am. An ability like that must have several uses to it, and I could think of so many ways to use them." She said with her alluring smile.

"You want us to work with you?" Itachi asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it would be beneficial to the both parties I can assure you." She said easily.

"In what way could you benefit us?" He asked.

"We have resources and can get you just about anything you might need." Cinder offered.

"Is that so… What do you think Kisame?" Itachi asked looking to his partner.

"After watching for a second… I say Orochimaru." Kisame said with a grin.

"I was thinking the same thing." Itachi said with a nod.

The others in the room were completely confused.

"The little kiddies back there are probably her pets like that kid… what was his name?" Kisame asked.

"Kabuto." Itachi answered before looking back towards Cinder. He definitely remembered his first reanimator.

"What is your answer?" She said her smile gone and replaced with a frown.

"Well I think I can speak for the both of us when we say we have no interest in working with you." Itachi said making her scowl. Her two shadows started moving to the sides of the room, but Roman, Neo, and the other individual didn't move.

"Such a shame. I think you might want to reconsider." She said a fireball appearing in her hand.

Kisame had to keep himself from laughing out loud. 'Is that supposed to be intimidating.' He thought his grin growing bigger as he eyed the two moving to surround them.

"Are you sure you want to be doing this?" Itachi asked not having moved, and honestly being faintly amused. 'This might be fun.'

"If you aren't willing to reconsider then yes." Cinder said taking a step forward.

"I see that is unfortunate then." Itachi said closing his eyes and activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. "If you don't retreat then we won't show any mercy." Itachi warned opening his eyes again.

Cinder just narrowed her eyes and nodded to the other two who jumped at them. Kisame brought his sword up and spun around knocking the two attackers away.

"Now now this isn't our fight it's theirs." He said with a grin before appearing in front of the silver-haired male and throwing him towards his green-haired compatriot.

The green-haired girl ducked to the side as her partner righted himself in the air and landed in a crouch.

"You good with her Itachi?" Kisame asked.

"Yes I just finished." Itachi said watching as Cinder's body fell to the ground.

"I haven't even started are you sure you didn't go overboard?" Kisame complained with a frown.

"She's still alive she can be thankful for that." He said looking to the people standing to the sides of the room.

"I guess you're right." Kisame said placing Samehada on his shoulder.

"Cinder!" The green-haired one screamed running over to the fallen woman. "Mercury get over here she's out-cold." Mercury ran over and helped pick her up before fleeing with the green-haired girl. Kisame was about to stop them but Itachi put his hand on his shoulder.

"Let them go." He whispered. Kisame grinned and nodded. "I see."

Roman and Neo were just watching shocked.

The other man at the end of the room walked over and looked at the two again. He turned to Kisame and spoke. "Why do you work with this human?" He asked.

"I'm sorry I don't believe we've met…" Kisame started.

After a moment's hesitation he obliged. "Adam. Adam Taurus." He said.

"Adam why do you ask that?" Kisame asked.

"With everything the faunus have been through how can you stand to work with this human?" He sneered

"Well Itachi here has been my partner for years, and he's the only one I trust with my life." Kisame answered.

"I see. Itachi was it? How do you feel having a faunus as a partner?" Adam asked.

"I don't really care what he's called. Faunus, human, or anything else he is my partner, and similar to his answer he's the only one in this world that I'd trust with my life." Itachi answered.

"I see maybe it is possible." He muttered the last part more to himself. Looking up he gave a small smile to the two. "Well even though you're a human you and your partner have earned my respect. No one I know could've done anything like that. If you have any interest in the White Fang we would be happy to have you both." Adam said before turning around and walking out of the building.

With that interesting exchange out of the way the duo turned towards the criminal duo who were still just staring. "I believe we were making negotiations last time." Itachi said causing Roman to snap out of his stupor.

"Yes we were. You want in on my information network you got it. Anything else?" Roman asked.

"No that's plenty for now, but if we come up with something we will get into contact." Itachi said.

"We would like to stop by from time to time for certain things that we can talk about later." Kisame said causing Itachi to quirk an eye, but he didn't say anything against it.

"Sure just take this, and if you want to call me just call, but it's only a burner scroll." Roman said handing Itachi a black scroll.

"Thank you. We will be in contact." Itachi said before turning around and walking to the exit with Kisame following.

When they got outside Kisame spoke up. "You did go overboard with that jutsu didn't you?"

"It wasn't the usual pain or anything in the eyes, but it still takes a lot of chakra especially since we were in there for a month." Itachi said making Kisame look at him.

"You've never lasted that long." He said.

"The pain would eventually become too much and make me stop. This time I just exhausted a lot of chakra." Itachi said.

"Well that's good, but why keep her in there for so long?"

"I wanted my questions answered, and only then did I let her pass out." Itachi answered.

"That's why you let them go?" Kisame asked.

"Yes today went vey well." Itachi said with a smile.

"Good to hear. What's our next step?" Kisame asked.

"Well tomorrow starts the weekend, and Ruby did want her team to meet us, and maybe after that we do something to get some more lien. We're starting to run out."

"Really? We must not have gotten much from that job. We haven't been eating much." Kisame said more to himself than Itachi.

"I know… and you said it yourself we still do need to spar." He said with a smile before dashing off.

"We most certainly do." Kisame said with a grin dashing after his partner.

 _The Next Day_

 _With RWBY_

"Good Morning Team RWBY!" Ruby shouted to her formerly sleeping teammates.

"Rubes it's the weekend let us sleep." Yang whined stuffing her head under her pillow.

"Yang it's like ten, but alright fine I suppose I'll just go see Itachi and Kisame alone." Ruby said with a small shrug. She was doing her best to hide her smile.

"Like hell that's happening!" Yang yelled bolting out of bed and hopping into the bathroom to get ready.

'Too easy.' Ruby thought with a laugh. "Weiss! Blake! Wake up!"

"I can't I'm dead." Blake muttered into her pillow hiding under the covers.

"It's far too early in the morning on a weekend to be this loud." Weiss said into her own pillow.

"Again guys its ten in the morning." Ruby tried.

"I stand by what I said." The heiress replied.

"Alright you've both forced my hand." Ruby said pulling something out of her desk drawer.

Blake immediately opened her eyes in horror. "I thought we destroyed that." She muttered.

"Destroyed what? That infernal whistle? Of course we did." Weiss said still not looking up.

Ruby gave Blake a grin that shook her to her very core before leaning next to Weiss.

The screams a mix of agony, anger, shock, and laughter echoed through the halls of the dorm.

After a good hour Team RWBY was out at the landing docks waiting for a bullhead. Ruby was smiling happily, while Weiss and Blake still looked annoyed. Yang having had the partial protection of a wall between her and the whistle thought it was hilarious and was still all smiles.

When the airship arrived the group quickly found themselves on their way to Vale. "So Ruby you said we're meeting these friends of yours?" Weiss asked.

"Yep." She said popping the 'p'.

"Where exactly?" The heiress asked.

"I'm not really sure they said they'd find us eventually, so we are just gonna walk around Vale until they do." Ruby said happily.

"That doesn't sound like a very good plan." Weiss muttered.

The rest of her team didn't seem to share her sentiment as they just followed Ruby out once the airship landed.

The group walked out into the central area of Vale and started looking at random shops they came across. For Blake and Weiss, it was their first time being able to really see Vale. Weiss never got to visit the city since she arrived from Atlas shortly before the semester started. Blake was too scared to go out of her temporary apartment for fear of the White Fang finding her.

Ruby was happily skipping along while talking to her team before smelling something simply delicious. They had come across a bakery and were now stopped in front of the shop.

"You really do like sweets don't you?" Came a voice from behind the group.

Ruby jumped and turned around with a smile. "Itachi! Kisame!" She said happily jumping up and hugging Itachi who just looked at her before patting her on the back.

"It's good to see you too red." Kisame said with a grin. He then looked to her teammates. "Who're your little friends here?"

Ruby let go of Itachi and stood in front of her teammates. "Well you remember my sister Yang. The one with the bow is Blake her partner, and Weiss is my partner." She said pointing out each one. Without missing a beat, she turned around to face her team. "Team these are my friends Kisame and Itachi."

"It's nice to meet all of you." Itachi said with a smile.

"We've heard a lot about you all." Kisame said with his grin showing off his teeth scaring Weiss and Blake but for different reasons.

Blake knew that Faunus could recognize other Faunus by their scents and other minute traits. Weiss just didn't know what to make of what appeared to be a large Faunus standing right in front of her sizing them up. She had been taught her whole life to hate and degrade the dirty Faunus and their scum White Fang for being lesser beings.

Kisame and Itachi noticed Blake's fear, and it seemed to be directed at Kisame. Not very uncommon, but her eyes were darting between the swordsman and the white-haired girl.

'Strange.' Kisame thought before looking to Weiss seeing her flinch under his gaze.

"Your teammates seem rather tense." Itachi said drawing attention of the group back to him.

"S-sorry about that." Weiss said hating her stutter.

Yang was glaring at the duo the whole time. "Yeah Rubes you don't really seem to realize these guys are intimidating!" She almost yelled. Almost.

"Intimidating?" Ruby asked aloud. "Maybe at first, but they're nice when you get to know them." She finished happily.

Weiss and Blake hesitantly nodded.

"Now then Ruby what exactly did you want us to do when you had the idea to meet your team?" Itachi asked.

Ruby froze. Weiss broke out of her uneasiness and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You didn't have a plan of some kind for today?" Weiss asked annoyed.

"Ummm…" Ruby started unconvincingly.

"Since we're here why don't we sit down and grab something to eat." Kisame suggested getting a thankful smile from Ruby.

With some small mutterings from Weiss the group went into the bakery and sat at a table.

RWBY looked over the menus while the morning mist just waited quietly looking at each member of the team.

Ruby looked up to the two and frowned. "Are you two not getting anything?"

"I'm not hungry right now." Itachi answered.

"Neither am I." Kisame said after.

"Oh… alright then." Ruby said before looking back at her menu.

After the waiter came by and took their orders they finally started talking.

"So Itachi and Kisame what is it that you all do?" Weiss asked.

The two looked at each other. "We aren't really employed per say." Itachi said.

"We are pretty good fighters, so little red's uncle lets us take on hunter missions for money." Kisame explained.

"So you're able to do hunter missions, but aren't actually hunters?" Blake asked.

"Yeah we're from outside the kingdoms, and they don't have hunter academies out there." Itachi answered.

"How'd you survive out there?" Weiss asked surprised.

"We have been training to fight and survive since we were young. That's just how it was for us." Itachi said.

"So you're from outside the kingdoms like Blake is?" Yang asked causing the group to look to Blake.

"It's not impossible to get by outside the kingdoms it's just difficult. If they survived out there then they probably are strong." Blake said.

"What about you all? You're training to be huntresses correct?" Itachi asked.

"Yep from all different walks of life we come together to save the day!" Ruby said making hand motions.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose while Yang grinned. Blake stayed neutral, but you could see a small smile if you looked hard enough.

"Is that so? Do you think your team is ready for what lies beyond the kingdom walls?" Itachi asked.

"Well… I've trained out there before… but I always had Uncle Qrow. I don't know if we're ready for that as a team yet." She said looking down.

"Hmm why don't we test you?" Itachi said a grin appearing on his face when Ruby immediately looked up. His was only matched by Kisame's own grin.

"You want to test us?" Weiss asked somewhat skeptical.

"Sure it could be the two of us versus the four of you with some restrictions of course." Itachi said.

"What kind of restrictions?" Yang asked somewhat interested in beating the two "baddies" up.

"Simple Kisame and I won't use our weapons." Itachi said looking to his partner who nodded.

"You think you can handle four huntresses-in-training weaponless?" Weiss exclaimed.

"I'm fine with that." Kisame said before looking straight at Weiss. "Unless you'd like to add another handicap."

Weiss scowled. No one could just treat her like a joke and get away with it.

"Very well we accept your offer and will gladly spar with you." She said.

While Blake nodded and Yang grinned, Ruby looked hesitant.

"Umm guys I don't know if you really want to do this." She said getting somewhat ignored by the rest of her team.

"Ruby could you show us one of the areas we talked about before?" Itachi asked before mentally saying they could talk in a minute.

Ruby let out a breath before nodding. After the group ate they left and started following Ruby. Itachi was walking with her while Kisame was farther back near the rest of her team.

"What has you so worried? Are you scared for your teammate's lives?" Itachi asked calmly.

"No I'm not worried about you two hurting them too badly. I'm worried about you guys. Most of our weapons can turn into guns and you two don't have an aura." She said looking up to him.

Itachi just smiled. "Let us worry about that. You guys just come at us, and if someone does get a good hit in then maybe you'll see something cool." He answered causing her to smile at the idea.

"What'll you do!?" She asked excitedly.

"You all will have to work together to make us do it." He said his smile becoming more of a taunt.

"Hmph we'll definitely show you!" She said fired up garnering the attention of the four behind them.

"Alright! That's the spirit sis let's kick these old guy's butts." Yang shouted causing Itachi and Kisame to look at each other.

"I might be a bit older than the rest of you, but that doesn't mean I'm old." Kisame said with a chuckle.

RWY laughed while Blake put together what he said.

"Wait you said the rest of you." Blake said to Kisame who nodded.

"Itachi you wanna hear them guess your age?" He asked grinning.

"I'm curious how old do you all think I am?" Itachi asked only to receive blank stares from all of Team RWBY.

Kisame full out started laughing. "They think you're as old as I am!" He said laughing.

"How old are you?" Ruby asked.

"I'm twenty-two now." Itachi said after thinking for a moment. 'Death really alters your perception on time.'

RWBY just stared at him. Yang's mouth was hanging open. Blake was blinking while staring at him. Weiss was doing pretty well at hiding her shock. Ruby was like her sister with her mouth hanging open.

"What?" She asked before shaking her head and moving forward again.

The group was silent for a few minutes except for Kisame antagonizing his partner.

Finally Ruby stopped near the gates of the city limits. "Alright guys we need to move quickly if we want to avoid Grimm and get back at a reasonable time."

"Ruby where exactly are we going?" The heiress asked.

"An old training ground of mine. Itachi and Kisame wanted to know where it was anyways, so we might as well kill two birds with one bone." Ruby said causing Itachi to shake his head.

"It's stone Ruby." He said.

"What is?"

"… never mind." Itachi said with another shake of his head.

After a nice "jog" our heroes were in an open field. Weiss and Yang were visibly panting while Blake was just slightly winded. Ruby, Itachi, and Kisame weren't fazed by the short trek.

"Alright then I think now that we're here your teammates need a moment to catch their breath." Kisame said looking over her teammates.

"N-no we're ready… to take you both… on." Weiss said.

"This isn't going to be easy guys rest up a bit before our fight." Ruby ordered.

"You don't think we can take them when they aren't using their weapons?" Yang asked.

"It isn't their weapons I'm worried about." She muttered to the side. "I just want to make sure we're at our best when we fight them."

The rest of her team begrudgingly followed their leader's order, so for the next half hour they rested and planned how they were going to fight the duo.

When everyone was well and rested the two groups took opposite sides of the clearing facing each other.

"Whenever you are ready come at us." Itachi said activating his Sharingan.

True to their word they wouldn't be using their weapons in this bout. Samehada was on the side of the field sometimes wriggling unhappily. They both had their pouches with kunai and other items, but they didn't plan on using them.

"Kisame don't use any ninjutsu if we can help it. The most I'd do is use a clone or a substitution. Ruby hasn't told anyone about who we are, but her team doesn't seem as… trustworthy." He said to his partner.

"Fine simple taijutsu it is then." He said before pausing. "What about the hidden mist jutsu?" He asked with a grin.

"We were already seen in the forest after pulling that stunt, but most people haven't connected us to the mist, or at least they don't have proof. I know you can be a flashy fighter but do keep it toned down. Besides the less they know the better if we continue this path then hunter teams could be sent after us. It'd be an annoyance if they knew about one of your jutsu." Itachi answered.

"I take it that means you won't be using genjutsu then?" He asked.

"No."

Meanwhile RWBY was fanning out slowly approaching the two. "Alright guys you know the plan." Ruby said before planting the tip of her scythe into the ground and firing two shots at the duo.

Itachi and Kisame both dodged the attack before going to their default tactic. Divide and conquer.

"Scatter." Itachi said before he and Kisame dashed to opposite sides of the field.

"We can't leave one of them to our backside! Weiss and Yang go after Kisame Blake and I will handle Itachi." Ruby shouted to her team.

'Smart choice and reasoning, but that is what we wanted in the end.' Itachi thought with a small smile watching the black and red duo come towards him.

Ruby opened up with a charging slash that Itachi jumped over. Blake followed up with her own series of slashes. Itachi dodged the attacks before appearing behind the girl and lashing out with a vicious kick that sent her tumbling. While she was down for the moment Itachi turned his attention back to Ruby just in time to duck under a high swipe. She continued her motion and lashed out with a kick of her own that Itachi blocked before grabbing her leg and throwing her towards her still recovering teammate. Blake realized what was happening and was able to catch the cloaked reaper pushing her back a bit. The two stood again and looked to Itachi who was still just standing there waiting.

"This might be a bit tougher than I thought." Blake admitted with a frown.

"I told you guys that earlier." Ruby mumbled readying Crescent Rose for another attack.

Blake heard her but didn't acknowledge it. Regular humans shouldn't have been able to hear that, and she wasn't about to blow her cover.

Without another word Ruby activated her semblance and went after Itachi again. Itachi dodged each of her slashes frustrating the girl to no end. "Why. Can't. I. Hit. You!" She said between attacks.

"In my eyes you all are just moving in slow motion." He said as he ducked Blake's failed sneak attack. He went to retaliate with a punch to the black-haired faunus but his fist went through her and the image faded. 'A clone?' He thought before jumping back to avoid her blade.

"Interesting." He said before finally going on the attack.

 _With Kisame, Yang, and Weiss_

"Come on then." Kisame said with his usual shark-like grin.

Yang grinned and charged forward shooting blasts from her gauntlets to close the distance. Kisame's grin never faded as he ran towards Yang. He had to jump over a volley of ice lances from the heiress and punched towards Yang who jumped away. Standing back up Yang and Weiss saw the cracks on the ground from where his fist had just been.

"Yang I have an idea." Weiss said to the blonde who deftly ignored her and charged again.

"I do too it's to beat him up!" She yelled as she threw a punch to his head which he easily dodged.

"You'll have to do better than that." Kisame said as he caught her arm and threw her over his shoulder. When he looked back to the heiress he saw she was also coming at him with her rapier. 'It's definitely not on the level of the seven hidden blades, but it isn't terrible.' He thought as he avoided her jabs.

He spun around one strike and grabbed her hand pulling her towards him then grabbing the back of her clothes and lifting her up before slamming her into the ground. Unfortunately for him he wasn't paying enough attention to her teammate who punched him away from her teammate.

He righted himself before landing and grinned at the brawler. "I almost felt that one." He taunted.

Yang's eyes flickered red. "I won't just sit by and let you harm my teammates!" She yelled running at him again.

"You got good morals kid." Kisame said as he readied himself for the attack. Just as the brawler was about to reach the swordsman a wall of ice erected between the two causing Yang to look at the heiress who was propped up on one arm.

"You can't just run in half-cocked like that you brute he was about to take you out of this fight." She scolded as she slowly got to her feet.

Yang looked like she was about to make a retort before sighing and calming down slightly. "You said you had a plan?" She asked.

"Yes I do." Weiss said as she walked towards the brawler.

"I know you're still lacking in experience, but no one would ever sit by and let you strategize in the middle of a fight." Kisame said appearing behind Yang.

Yang looked back shocked only to receive a fist sending her off her feet.

"I held back a bit on that one, so she shouldn't be dead." Kisame said with a grin before turning to the heiress who held her rapier warily.

"You're just playing with us aren't you?" She asked.

"Of course we are this is just a simple spar for fun." Kisame answered. "That said this can still be a good opportunity to learn something."

"What exactly do we learn from this?" She asked rotating the dust chamber in Myrtanester. (Might've spelled that wrong I never look it up.)

Kisame's grin turned feral. "That there are many who are stronger than you, and almost as important what utter and complete defeat tastes like."

Weiss had had enough of his talking and landed on the fire dust chamber then shot a blast of fire at him with the help of her glyphs.

A large fireball engulfed the area where he had been standing leaving her with a satisfied look on her face. "Maybe you should learn not to underestimate your opponents." She said taking a knee. She was running low on aura and dust.

"I learned that lesson long ago." Said a voice from behind her making her freeze. Before she could act she was kicked towards her teammate who was just getting up. When she opened her eyes she looked at the man in disbelief not finding a single mark on him. When she looked back at the dying fire she didn't see anything except a charred log. "W-what…how…" She mumbled before passing out from aura exhaustion.

Yang looked to her downed teammate and literally erupted with anger making Kisame's grin grow even larger.

"Looks like you've still got some fight left in you let me change that." He said taunting her into rushing straight at him once again. 'A very direct fighter it seems which means predictable. How boring.' He thought with a frown.

He looked towards Itachi's fight. 'Those two may've been more interesting opponents.' He thought moving his head out of the way of Yang's punch. "You should learn from your mistakes." He said grabbing her overextended arm again and flipping her onto the ground then lifting her up and throwing her into one of the nearby trees breaking her aura.

"Well then now that that's done I should probably make sure they don't get killed by Grimm or something." He said to himself as he collected their bodies and put them on the ground next to each other. Weiss was coming back around trying to figure out what happened while Yang was still out.

 _With Itachi, Ruby, and Blake_

"Interesting." He said before rushing the two.

Blake and Ruby readied themselves for his attack. He threw a punch at Ruby who blocked it with the shaft of Crescent Rose and tried swatting him away with its tail. In a shocking display of agility, to the girls at least, he grabbed hold of the scythe's shaft and hopped onto it before jumping off straight into Ruby making her drop her precious weapon. Then before landing he righted himself in the air so he was standing next to the downed reaper.

"Owie." Ruby mumbled before starting to get up.

Blake decided to give her leader some time to recover so she rushed the Uchiha in hopes of doing something, anything to gain some ground in this fight. Unfortunately, no matter what she did, no matter where she attacked from, no matter how many clones she used nothing ever connected. It was like he was reading her mind…

"Maybe I am." Itachi whispered with a smile. He had seen the look in her eyes before, and just couldn't help himself.

"Wha-" She started before he appeared next to her.

"You are a faunus, so I'm pretty sure you heard me." He whispered before giving another vicious kick to her side.

Ruby had by now gotten back up and took in what had become of their sparring match. Kisame was sitting near the downed bodies of Weiss and Yang while Blake was a few feet away on the ground. Itachi was in front of her waiting and her baby was sitting off behind him.

She chuckled softly and held up her hands. "I surrender." She said to Itachi.

"Already?" He asked curious.

"Yes you found my biggest weakness. I am garbage at fighting without Crescent Rose and we both know you could stop me before I get to her." Ruby said looking at him with a smile.

"Well then good match. Sometimes it's wise to retreat from an unwinnable battle but remember that isn't always an option." He said before signaling for Kisame to come over.

Kisame picked up Yang and helped Weiss over to where they were. Blake got up and looked at Itachi with an expression Ruby couldn't place, but Itachi knew it as a look of pure terror.

He walked over to her and lowered his voice. "Relax we won't tell anyone it isn't our secret to share." He said before walking back to the group.

When they had all reconvened and woken up Itachi and Kisame looked at the battered team.

"What're your thoughts on them Kisame?" Itachi asked.

"They did better than I was expecting." He admitted. "But they still have a lot to learn."

"I can agree to that, and it was also a decent spar given the situation." Itachi added.

"Damn…" Was all that Yang could say. "I'd hate to see what you two are like when you're serious."

"Agreed." Blake and Weiss said.

"I for one want to see them serious. I don't want to be facing them at the time, but I wanna see it." She said making Kisame laugh.

"Well we don't know what'll happen in the future, so you never know red." He said.

With that the group moved, at a much slower pace, back to the city. Team RWBY would never forget that spar.

 **A/N: Well here it is finally. First off I would like to apologize for how long this took to get out. With the direction of the story I couldn't really decide what all I wanted to do in the chapter, so I was having a bit of writers block. In addition college classes are in full swing, so I've been spending time with that as well. I hope future chapters don't take this long to get out, but for now I make no promises.**

 **Aside from that like always thanks for the reviews favorites and follows. I don't think I had any criticisms to explain or debunk this time, so none of those. One review was in another language that I'll assume is Spanish. Yeah I have no idea what you said there.**

 **Now I guess I can explain why I'm not strictly following canon. First off when I started this fic all I had was an idea without a real end goal. My other story I already know what'll happen at the end and beyond that if I decide to make a sequel, but for this I'm taking the things you guys ask for into consideration and making a story that I like while hoping that maybe you guys will like it too. The Cinder thing for example wasn't planned because I didn't have a plan, but a few people have reviewed and PM'd me asking for this or that to happen with her, so I thought about it and decided to go for it.**

 **That reminds me for anyone reading my other story yes I will start working on the next chapter for that one too, and it shouldn't take as long as this did.**

 **Anyways yeah when I ask for suggestions and stuff I do consider them all and I like to hear(read) them.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own wither of these shows.**

Chapter 6

"We aren't under the command of that woman anymore." Adam said.

"What happened? She went through so much trouble to attain our help." Lieutenant asked.

"She was defeated by two individuals. What I assume is a shark faunus of some kind and his human partner." He answered.

"A faunus and human working together? Are you sure the faunus wasn't a servant or something?"

"I asked them about their partnership, and they don't seem to care about the difference of who they are." Adam said taking off his mask. "I also invited them to join the Fang."

"A human in the fang?! Have you lost your mind!?" The lieutenant yelled.

"No I haven't. I don't fully trust them, but they're both extremely powerful from the little I've seen of them."

"Then why not just invite the shark faunus?" Lieutenant asked.

"I thought about it, but they looked like a packaged deal." Adam answered once again. "It would be better to have positive or neutral relations with them. When I said they defeated Cinder I meant the human did in the span of seconds."

"That's… that's impossible. Are you sure it wasn't some kind of trick?"

"If it was it was a good one, I didn't even see what happened. They were staring at each other and suddenly she collapsed."

"I can't believe it… Well sir what will we do now?" Lieutenant asked.

"We don't need our men working with that human anymore to steal dust, so we can inform them of the change in situation. After that we will look towards the future. The idea of attacking Beacon still interests me, but for now we need to build our numbers and wait." He answered.

"What exactly will we wait for?"

"We need to see what those two I told you about will do first. If possible I don't want to cross them. They had my fight or flight instincts screaming at me to run." Adam answered looking at his mask.

"Yes sir. I will take my leave now." The lieutenant said before turning around and leaving the room they were in. 'I can't believe someone like you could ever be this scared of a single human. How disgraceful.' He thought as he left.

Adam continued staring at his mask.

" _I don't really care what he's called. Faunus, human, or anything else he is my partner, and similar to his answer he's the only one in this world that I'd trust with my life."_

"Is it really possible?" He asked quietly. With a sigh he stood up and put his mask back on before leaving the room.

 _ **Break**_

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

(Yes I'm using the English names sue me)

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

Two water dragons collided canceling each other out while below them Kisame and Itachi were locked in place pushing against each other. Itachi was using a kunai while Kisame had Samehada. The latter pushing down on the former with a grin on his face.

Suddenly they broke apart and both jumped back.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi yelled shooting a large fireball at his partner.

'A big one.' "Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave!" Kisame yelled creating and riding a huge wave completely overtaking the fireball. The wave seemed to swallow up Itachi, and after a moment the wave settled making a small lake in what was a clearing.

Suddenly Itachi sprung out of the water stabbing Kisame in the back only for the body to turn into water.

"Nice try Itachi." Kisame said from behind putting Samehada against the other man's shoulder and pushing down on it. "This is where you admit defeat."

Itachi slowly turned his head and gave a small sideways smile. "It's not over just yet." It said before exploding throwing Kisame back a few feet.

When he landed, he scanned the water looking for his elusive partner. Without warning he spun around and blocked Itachi's Phoenix Flower Jutsu.

"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!" Kisame shouted slamming his hand onto the surface of the water creating three shark bombs that rushed Itachi.

Itachi saw the attack and dodged out of the way of each explosion. He had a smile on his face until he saw Kisame's own. "Water Style: Shark Shower." Kisame said.

All the water in the air from the explosions formed into miniature sharks that assaulted Itachi's form. Once the bombardment was over Kisame smirked at the damaged log floating in the water and started searching for his partner again only to find no sign of him. That's when he felt the kunai at his neck. "Checkmate."

He looked over his shoulder to see a somewhat battered Itachi. "How…" It took him a few seconds to figure out what happened, and when he did he just grinned. "That's a dangerous game you just played what would've happened if I saw through it?"

"You didn't notice it because you weren't looking for it." Itachi said putting his kunai away.

"How could you have known that?" He asked.

"Because I know you. You'd expect your opponent to use the substitution after being hit by an attack like that, so when I made that illusion I showed you what you wanted to see." Itachi answered. "But I believe I'm done for today."

"You can't be tired already we've only been sparring for a few hours." Kisame said with a grin.

"I don't have the same stamina or chakra that you do." Itachi said flatly.

"I can't help with chakra, but we can work on your stamina." Kisame offered with a grin.

Itachi couldn't help but shudder at that. "Your last attempt to help me with my stamina didn't bode well for either of us."

"I think it went rather well." Kisame said laughing.

"You're the only one who thinks that." Itachi said flatly stretching for a moment before looking back to his partner. "Besides I believe it's time we checked in on our little spectator."

"We should I can't wait to see her reaction to a few jutsu." He said with a smirk.

While they didn't plan on Ruby watching them during their spar they weren't really surprised when they noticed her following them. Said red reaper was awestruck. She didn't even notice the two walk over to where she was hiding and call out to her.

"You know Itachi I think we broke her." Kisame said looking at the girl inquisitively.

"Give it a second." Itachi said walking over to her and snapping in front of her face a few times.

"That… was…. AWESOME!" She screamed jumping into the air. "You were all like Whoosh and he was like Wahhh and…" (For anyone who didn't assume it she continues her… whatever that is.)

Kisame couldn't help himself he burst out laughing as she poorly re-described what she just witnessed happen. Itachi was in a similar state, but he was controlling his laughter far better.

"… and then you were like SURPRISE! And that was sooooo COOOOLLL!" She finally finished jumping up and down.

"It should probably go without saying, but you will need to keep quiet about the things you saw us doing." Itachi said seriously.

"I know I know." She sighed. "If you didn't want people seeing you do that stuff then why'd you let me watch? You had to know I was here obviously." She asked.

"We thought we owed you one since this was the spot you recommended to us, and it was you. Anyone else wouldn't have seen anything." Kisame answered.

"Ha ha… you mean they'd never see anything ever again don't you?" She asked nervously rubbing the back of her head.

"Hey she _is_ learning." Kisame said to Itachi who just shook his head.

"You aren't the most helpful when it comes to this kind of thing are you?" He said to his partner who just shook his head the grin never leaving his face.

"I still don't get how you guys are so… unattached when it comes to killing." She said shaking her head.

"It's how we were raised nothing to do but make the most of it." Itachi said with a shrug before looking down at the reaper. "What'd you think? Was it what you imagined?"

"The fight?" She asked.

He nodded.

"I never could've imagined anything like that! You were both so cool and had so many cool abilities! I thought you were actually killing each other, but you were both smiling the whole time. Then he turned into water and you exploded! What on Remnant was that stuff?!" She asked excitedly.

"Just some simple sparing. If you remember right we started with taijutsu then moved up to ninjutsu as time went on." Kisame said before seeing her confused look. "I forgot you don't know what that means do you?"

She shook her head 'no' making him sigh and look to Itachi for help.

Itachi looked between his partner and Ruby. "We fought with and without abilities." He said simply, and that must've been enough for the girl because she had a look of realization on her face.

"Can you teach me how to do that stuff!?" She asked excitedly.

"We might be willing to teach you some of the hand-to-hand combat, but as for our 'abilities' as you like to call them I'm afraid you can't learn those." Itachi said making her visibly deflate.

She looked positively adorable when she was pouting, and it reminded Itachi of someone he hadn't seen in a long time, so he motioned for her to come to him. She smiled and ran over only to be flicked in the head. "Ow!" She said pouting.

"Sorry Ruby, but without chakra you can't do what we did." He said with an apologetic smile before continuing. "But you did say yourself that you aren't any good at fighting without your scythe, so why don't we change that a bit?" He asked making her chuckle nervously before sighing.

"I just can't fight hand-to-hand both Yang and dad tried to teach me, and I could never get it." She said sadly.

"Where did Yang learn to fight?" Itachi asked.

"Umm from our dad." She answered confused.

"So she fights like your old man?" Kisame asked.

"Yes." She answered.

…

Itachi and Kisame just looked at each other. "I think I know why neither of them could teach you anything." Kisame started.

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"They both have the same fighting style that from what I've seen is run straight at your opponent and hit hard. That doesn't fit your style or your build." Itachi answered.

"So I'm not just garbage at hand-to-hand?" Ruby asked hopeful again.

"No you're garbage at it right now." Kisame said getting a disappointed 'aw' from Ruby. "But with a little help you might become a better fighter than your sister."

"What?! No way! Yang is way stronger than I am." Ruby said waving her arms around.

"I didn't say you'd be stronger than her I said you'd fight better than her. It's up to you to try and learn. If all goes well then give it a shot and see who's better at hand-to-hand." Kisame reasoned making the young girl nod.

"Alright. So you guys are willing to teach me?" She asked hopefully.

"We don't have anything else to do at the moment, so we might be able to start something now." Itachi offered. Kisame's grin started looking feral, and she started wondering if this was actually a good idea.

"…Sure…?" She said hesitantly.

"Good now the first thing that you should learn is how to effectively dodge. Kisame if you would." Itachi said stepping back

Without another word Kisame jumped forward. Ruby screamed a little and dashed away.

'This might be more fun than I thought.' Itachi thought with a smile.

 _With WBY_

The rest of team RWBY were slowly waking up to their own terms rather than someone else's. Well that's how it started until the resident ice queen was rudely woken by her blonde teammate's yelling.

"RUUUUBYYYY!" the brawler bellowed. In her hand was a scrap of paper and with a harsh glare Weiss sat up pinning Yang with her gaze.

"What could possibly have you so loud!" Weiss yelled stretching her still sore body.

"Ruby's gone and all she left was a damn note!" Yang continued.

Out of the bathroom came Blake having just finished getting dressed. "Is this the first time she's done this?" Blake asked calmly.

"Er… well no, but she usually leaves a note saying she's going hunting or at least saying where she'll be, but just look at it!" Yang said handing the note to Blake.

"Going out for a bit be back later. Don't wait up for me signed your fearless leader." Blake read aloud before raising an eyebrow. "What's she usually disappear for again?"

"Most of the time she goes to the forests around our house and hunts." Yang answered.

"If that isn't the most reckless- no wait she's done worse." Weiss said with a thoughtful look before slowly getting out of bed.

"Guys this is serious." Yang said getting a sigh from the heiress.

"Have you at least tried calling her?" She asked.

Yang nodded. "No answer."

With that said the other two shared a look and nodded. "Alright after I get dressed let's go find that troublemaker." Weiss said grabbing some clothes and heading into the bathroom.

After a few minutes the heiress reappeared dressed and ready. The three then quickly grabbed their weapons just in case and made their way out of the room bumping into JNPR.

"Hey guys what're you all up to?" Jaune asked seeing their weapons.

"We were just-" Weiss began before Yang cut her off.

"We're looking for Ruby have you seen her?"

Jaune turned to the rest of his team who just shook their heads 'no' "Sorry we haven't seen her today. Do you guys need any help?" He asked after seeing the brawler deflate a bit.

"There's no need to worry about it we can find her." Weiss said politely trying her best to hurry this along.

"Are you sure? We'd be happy to help you find your leader." Pyrrha said getting nods from the rest of her team and a loud 'yea' from the hammer maiden.

Yang nodded with a smile. "Thanks guys."

Now with JNPR with them the group decided to split up and search the grounds and nearby woods.

It's safe to say they weren't going to find her that easily.

 _Unknown Location_

"Are you sure about this?"

"No, but what else are we supposed to do she still hasn't woken up."

"You're right. I guess we have to make that call."

 _ **Break**_

 _With Itachi, Kisame, and Ruby_

Ruby was laid out flat on her back panting heavily as she looked up at the man in front of her. She was covered in slowly healing cuts from shrapnel and a few other things. For whatever reason, while she was trying to avoid the shark who smelled blood, his partner decided to add his own contribution in the training in the form of throwing shuriken and kunai from different directions. Of course he wasn't aiming to kill, but she still did well to avoid them. Most of them.

"I'm… starting to see… why… others might think you're… scary…" She said between breaths.

"Oh you wound me." Kisame said having enjoyed himself as shown by a grin bigger than his usual one.

"Itachi… what… was I supposed… to get… out of that exactly?" She asked.

Said ninja dropped from the tree he had been in and walked over to the two. "You never know how many enemies there might be hiding in the woodwork, so it's important to always pay attention to your surroundings."

"I thought this was just about dodging." Ruby said finally catching up on her breathing.

"It was and you did pretty well." Itachi said.

"But you still came out worse for wear, so it could've been better." Kisame added enjoying the glare the young girl shot at him.

"It's hard to dodge your annoyingly strong attacks, the resulting splintering trees" she gestured to the thoroughly destroyed area, "and keep avoiding those sharp blades!" She pouted getting a laugh from Kisame.

"Itachi said it himself you gotta pay attention to your surroundings. He wasn't just talking about enemies, but the terrain too." Kisame said.

"I know I know Uncle Qrow said something similar during my training." Ruby said letting out a sigh.

Itachi helped the girl up then ruffled her hair. "Regardless good job you did well." He said with a genuine smile making Ruby smile and ignore her coloring cheeks. "I would say now would be a good time to work on your offense, but it looks like quite a bit of time has passed.

Ruby looked up and saw it was already past noon then gulped. "Uh oh." She said pulling her scroll from a hidden pocket in her cloak and seeing the messages from her friends and teammates. Hesitantly she clicked on Yang's number and put it on speaker. The call was picked up almost instantly.

"RUBY WHERE ARE YOU!" Came Yang's frantic voice.

"Calm down Yang I left a note." She said somewhat annoyed. She did this pretty often and didn't know why her sister seemed so frantic this time.

"Your notes usually say where you'll be, but you didn't write anything, so we've been looking for you all morning." Yang said finally calming down a bit much to the delight of her teammates.

"That's because I didn't know where I would be going, I just had a gut feeling, and followed it." Ruby said shrugging before realizing that her sister couldn't see it. Itachi and Kisame exchanged a look of confusion before Ruby held a finger up saying to wait a second. "Anyways Yang there's nothing to worry about I'll see you back at the school." Ruby said hanging up midway through her question.

 _With WBY_

"Wait Ruby where are you?!" She asked quickly only to hear the line beep causing her to grin strangely.

"Are you… okay Yang?" Blake asked having heard bits of the conversation.

Yang's scroll snapped in her hand. "She is grounded forever when she gets back." She said with her eye twitching.

"Yang what have you done! They just gave us those scrolls when we got here how'd you already break it?" Weiss asked with a scowl on her face.

Whatever evil menacing look she had on her face was quickly replaced with a nervous one as the resident ice queen gave her a withering glare.

"W-well you s-see-" She started before getting cut off.

"Not another word." Weiss said firmly. "We know Ruby's alright, and we can find out where she was later, so now we are going to get your scroll replaced, and you can explain to Professor Goodwitch just why your scroll that's made specifically for huntsmen and huntresses is in pieces." She ended with a cold glare making Yang go pale at the thought of the good witch.

 _Back With the Ninja_

"You came all the way out here and happened to find us on a gut feeling?" Itachi asked intrigued.

Ruby hesitantly nodded making Kisame hum aloud. "You really are a strange kid." He said getting a defiant 'Hey!' and a weak punch to the gut.

'That is interesting. Could it have been luck or happenstance? Maybe the crow I left with her? Or could it just be something else?' Itachi wondered to himself. Like a majority of the Akatsuki Kisame and Itachi had always been good about getting away from prying eyes, but Ruby just happened to follow her gut and found them. It was interesting to say the least. "Ruby." He said drawing her attention. "Your sister made it sound like you disappearing leaving nothing but a note is somewhat normal. What is it you usually do when you go off?"

"Usually I just go to hunt." She said simply.

"Alone?" He asked getting a nod. "You're out hunting Grimm I assume?" He asked getting another nod. "If they're as dangerous as you say they are then why would you try and go off to hunt them on your own?"

"It's just part of what I was taught by my uncle. Before Beacon I was still at Signal and there weren't any teams there just classes, and so I usually trained alone or with him. He had told me that when I got to Beacon I would be placed on a team with others and that they could help, but teams don't always work out or stick together. When I asked him what he meant he'd just give an almost sad laugh and say just look what happened to his team." She said pausing as she looked down. "Out of the four of them he's the only one still working as a huntsman while the others aren't, and he usually works alone… I guess he just wanted me to be prepared just in case something like that happens with my team." She finished seeming rather sad.

"He's right as far as people go everyone has their own goals or reasons for doing something, and while they may line up for a time it doesn't mean it will stay that way." Kisame said with a faraway look. Something that Ruby hadn't really seen from the blue-skinned man before now.

Itachi understood what was going through his partner's head, or at least parts of it. He knew bits and pieces of Kisame's past, and they both knew that no one in the Akatsuki was in it for the exact same purpose.

"Time will continue to march on. Personal loss such as a team's dispersal, or in worse cases a team's death will not stop time. It is up to those who remain to keep moving forward or be swallowed up in the rushing sands." Itachi said somewhat cryptically.

"It's times like these that make me forget that you're younger than me." Kisame muttered coming back to the present.

"Sorry if I dampened the mood guys." Ruby said looking down.

"Don't worry about it kid we've all got skeletons in our closet." Kisame said his grin slowly coming back as he ruffled her hair a tad rougher than when Itachi had done it.

"I don't have any skeletons in my closet!" Ruby yelled out making Itachi put his head into his hand.

"Not literal skeletons Ruby he was using a metaphor." He said.

"Ohhhhh." Ruby said slowly. "Oops."

With a laugh Kisame brought them back to what they were talking about before. "Back to your training I think it might be better for Itachi to teach you rather than I. My style isn't quite your sister's, but it still relies on strength."

Itachi nodded before thinking. "Right now, could you punch my hand as hard as you can?" He asked holding up his hand.

"Umm sure?" She said bringing her fist back before punching his hand as hard as she could.

Itachi was unimpressed as I'm sure you can imagine. "Alright then… your aura can it be channeled into a certain part of your body?" He asked.

"I'm not really good at it compared to my uncle, but yea."

"Alright then try using your aura to punch harder than what you just did." He said.

"It might not be like chakra." Kisame said watching.

Doing as she was asked, she started channeling her aura into her hand and punched again. Itachi could actually feel some power behind the strike and he smiled. "I can work with that." He said making Ruby smile.

"Does this mean you have an idea?" She asked excitedly.

"I might have something. First thing we need to do is work on your stance. Fighting with a weapon and fighting barehanded usually means a change in stance with exceptions like your sister." Itachi said as she got into her usual stance, but it felt weird without her baby. "It feels different doesn't it?" He asked.

"Yea it doesn't feel the same." Ruby said.

"You don't have your scythe out right now. Your current stance takes in its weight, and is balanced when the weight is there, but now you're throwing yourself off-balance." Itachi said.

"This sounds like it'll be hard." Ruby said trying to find a more natural stance.

"It'll take time since you don't have eyes like mine, but if you work on it then maybe you'll become a formidable opponent." Itachi said.

"There's no maybe I will do this!" Ruby said pumping her fist.

"Good to see you're determined." Kisame said with a grin.

With that they spent the rest of the day working on her technique. Much to the displeasure of her worried sister. By the time she had returned night had already settled upon Vale.

"RUBY ROSE WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"

 **A/N: Well it's been a while. I hope everyone's been well. Like I said in the past chapter these are coming out slower because you know just busy.**

 **Anyways I hope you all enjoyed. This is setting up something. As to what I'll let you all guess on that.**

 **For anyone not specifically liking this chapter compared to the others then yea sorry about that I wrote this one over a period of time rather than most of it in one sitting, so yea this one didn't quite flow as well.**

 **Let's see reviews... Oh right! The Tsukyomi thing with Cinder. So I looked into it, and yea I originally thought Kakashi was in it for a week or something like that, and I based her time in there based on that, so yea a month is way too long. I'll probably change that to a week or something, but for now I think that's it. Aside from saying thanks for everything all the follows, favorites, and reviews.**

 **Speaking of... Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever you all do.**

 **Laz out~**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Like usual I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 7

 _With RWBY_

"Yang! Quiet down it's getting late!" Weiss hissed. Ruby looked to Weiss in gratitude before her glare was leveled on the hooded reaper. "Now would you mind telling us where you've been? JNPR and the rest of us were looking around the school and Emerald Forest all day." She "asked" her team leader.

Ruby smiled awkwardly while contemplating how to tell her team without them freaking out. Safe to say she couldn't think of anything. "Well you see I may have sort of been with Itachi and Kisame all day." She said quickly. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, they freaked out. Well Yang did.

"You mean to tell me that you dropped everything and made us all worry just so you could go see those guys!" Yang yelled. Even after the sparring match she still didn't trust the two. If anything, her distrust had grown. People say you can learn a lot about a person by the way they fight. Yang didn't really like what she personally saw.

"I left my note like usual." Ruby said growing annoyed. It was the phone call all over again except she couldn't hang up.

"But you usually say where you're going in those notes." Yang retorted.

"Like I said earlier I didn't know where I was going when I wrote the note." She crossed her arms pouting. "Why're you so hung up on them anyways?" She asked seriously.

Yang's eyes narrowed slightly. "You want to know the truth Ruby?" She asked receiving a nod. "I'm scared! There I said it! When we fought them the other day they weren't even fighting seriously, and they still beat us."

'You don't know the half of it.' Ruby thought to herself as Yang continued.

"The worst part is that despite how dangerous they are you keep running after them! Even if I could keep track of you, I know I can't protect you from them!" She yelled her lilac eyes turning red.

"Then don't." She said simply making Yang freeze.

"What do you mean don't?"

"Don't try and protect me from them. You're being an overprotective sister like you always have been, and that's fine, but you forget that I know how to take care of myself… most of the time, so why not be protective when I actually need it and stop worrying yourself over my friends." Ruby answered looking Yang straight in the eyes.

"Because it's obvious that you don't realize that right now you _do_ need protection. They're strong Ruby, dangerously so. I'd even go so far as to say they're on the level of huntsmen like Uncle Qrow." Yang accused her voice rising each sentence.

With how close Ruby was to their uncle Yang thought she would outright deny it, but Ruby didn't say anything and looked like she was thinking, which worried Yang even more.

'Honestly… I don't know if Uncle Qrow could take them.' She thought to herself.

"Now hold on Yang I wouldn't go that far." The heiress stepped in. "I mean sure they're powerful, but do you seriously think they're professional huntsmen level?" With the way they talked about him it was safe to assume that this Qrow was a strong huntsman.

"I can see it." Blake added. "I don't have a lot of experience with professional huntsmen and huntresses, but they are from outside the kingdoms. Anyone who can survive most of their lives out there is at the very least tough… or very lucky, but I'd bet on the former rather than the latter after our 'spar'." Blake added with air quotes.

'Well this is happening…' Ruby thought to herself. 'At least they aren't getting accused of killing people that's a plus I guess.'

"Yang." Ruby said stepping right up to her sister. "Even though I haven't known them long, and even though you're right about them being dangerous, that doesn't change the fact that I trust them."

Yang was going to protest, but Ruby covered her mouth. "I know what you're going to say, we've had this conversation before. I'll tell you what I told the headmaster. Regardless of what you say or do, I will trust them until they break said trust." She finished quietly.

Yang wanted to argue, but instead sighed. "When'd you go and become independent?" She asked more rhetorically than anything.

"I'm bound to grow up eventually." Ruby answered. 'And I think Itachi's calmness might be rubbing off because a few weeks ago I'd have no idea what to do in this situation and probably be panicking.' "Anyways Weiss is right it's getting late, and we have classes tomorrow, so we should probably get to bed."

"Wait a minute." Yang said staring back at her sister. "You said you were with them, but what were you doing with them?"

Ruby had to think about how much she wanted to say. She couldn't mention their sparring, buuuuuutttt they didn't say anything about the training. "They're teaching me hand-to-hand combat… and combat skills in general." She said giving two members of the team two very similar, if off base, ideas.

"When you say hand-to-hand you mean hand-to-hand right?" Yang asked very calmly the heat in the room rising.

Blake took in what Yang hinted at and she blushed a bit remembering a scene from one of her more… _mature_ pieces of literature.

The additional meaning of the question went straight over Ruby's head. "Yeah hand-to-hand like I said, but you know it also includes looking for weak spots on the body, knowing just where to hit, and figuring out how to handle multiple people at a time."

I want everyone reading to know I'm enjoying writing this little tidbit.

Just because of where their minds were already Yang got even angrier and Blake blushed even more. Weiss was thinking clearly, and it made sense to her except for the 'why' Ruby wanted to be trained in hand-to-hand, but in the end that was her choice.

Blake's mind was racing. 'It sounds just like the training scene from _Ninjas of Love II._ Safe to say she was getting uncomfortable and the temperature of the room wasn't helping.

Yang on the other hand, or the same hand I guess… didn't like the sound of this training Ruby was going through. "Rubes." She gave her brightest smile. "I really don't think that you should learn hand-to-hand combat from them, why don't you let me teach you." She said the strain in her voice evident.

"They said that I didn't fit your style of fighting, so Itachi said he'd personally teach me while Kisame helps." Ruby said with a smile. Oh Ruby.

Hearing this Yang resolved to kill the two ninja the next time she saw them, and confine Ruby to their room for the rest of their time in Beacon, or until the ninja were gone. Ruby and Weiss didn't perceive any of the thoughts going through the brawler's head, and Blake was… distracted.

Without saying anything else on the topic RWBY somewhat awkwardly went to bed.

 _The Next Morning_

As the first rays of sunlight came into the room through the gap in the curtains Ruby woke up at her usual time and tried to sit up before realizing there was a problem. "Why can't I move?" She mumbled quietly trying her best to move. "Uh guys a little help?" She called to her still sleeping teammates.

She turned her head and saw her sister looking over at her. "Uhh Yang could you help me out I can't move."

Yang just shook her head. "There's no reason for you to be up just relax you'll be fine."

"What about classes today!? I need to get up and get ready!" She said getting louder and by relation waking her other teammates.

"What are you two babbling about this early in the morning?" Weiss asked looking up to see the suspended bed above her swinging from side to side.

Quickly Weiss got out of her bed for fear of possibly being crushed then looked at Ruby. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Ruby chuckled nervously. "I'm stuck."

"What do you mean you're stuck?" Weiss asked walking up and moving the covers to see Ruby tied to the bed.

By this time Blake was sitting up and looking over to the two partners. 'Nope. Nope nope nope.' She thought shaking her head before getting up and looking to her partner.

"How on Remnant did you wind up tied to your bed like this?" Weiss asked the tied-up girl.

"I don't know, but Yang wouldn't help me and I really gotta pee!" Ruby complained trying to wiggle her way to freedom.

"Just calm down I'll cut you lose in a second." Weiss said pulling out Myrtenaster.

"Now wait just a minute ice queen there's no reason she can't stay like that." Yang said standing up.

"Did you do this?" Weiss asked with a groan.

"I just want to make sure she stays perfectly safe." Yang reasoned.

Despite their promise to help Yang with Ruby if need be after meeting her friends, they couldn't really see why Yang was being so… overbearing. Being protective is one thing but tying Ruby up and keeping her trapped is another.

Weiss was not in the mood for this, so she looked between the brawler and the still wiggling girl. "Yang I mean this in the nicest way possible. You're insane." Quick as a flash Weiss slashed through the rope freeing her leader who immediately jumped off the bed and hugged Weiss before dashing to the bathroom.

Weiss flinched from the hug, but since it didn't last long, she got over it quickly. She then looked to the blonde of the group who was glaring at her. "What's that look for?"

"Why'd you let her go? She was safe like that." Yang asked.

"Why would you think tying her up would protect her from anything?" Weiss asked leveling her own glare at the blond.

"Because those guys wouldn't be able to get to her." Yang answered not backing down.

"Yang in case you haven't noticed they seem pretty friendly with her, and by relation us. Had you kept her trapped with no way of moving who is the one person she can call to without having to move a muscle? What exactly were you hoping to gain from this insolence?" The heiress asked not understanding why her teammate would do something so… rash to her own sister.

"You wouldn't understand princess." Yang replied venomously. 'Helpful.' Weiss thought sarcastically.

"I don't think you quite understand what's happening here, so allow me to spell it out for you. Ruby isn't just your baby sister anymore. She's our team leader and fellow student, so if she decides to be friends with those people then it isn't your place to stop her." Weiss said with a pause.

Yang was going to argue but was cut off by Weiss once more. "Don't you say a word until I'm finished. These men are skilled enough to be huntsmen like you all argued last night isn't that right?" She asked receiving a nod from Yang not knowing where this was going. "Ruby also said that your uncle trusts them too, or at the very least likes them. If he, an actual adult and professional huntsman, is fine with Ruby befriending them then what is your issue?" Weiss asked waiting for an answer that wouldn't make any logical sense.

"Argh I don't know I just don't trust those two!" Yang yelled her eyes turning red. There it was.

"Why not? Why don't you trust them?" She asked. Despite being very intimidated by the shark-like man at first, she didn't see either of the duo harboring ill intent during their spar, and had they wanted to kill them they certainly could of, yet here they were alive and having this admittedly pointless conversation.

Yang just shook her head. "I don't know! I just can't get over this feeling that they're bad news." She said calming down slightly.

Blake was awkwardly watching the exchange while waiting for the young reaper to come out of the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom Ruby was sitting against the door listening to what they were saying. On one hand she was happy that her partner was standing up for her decision, but on the other she was both sad and annoyed that Yang was still so against her being friends with Kisame and Itachi. She was also slightly concerned that her sister thought it was a good idea to tie her to her own bed while she was sleeping.

After the conversation ended Ruby came out of the bathroom and acted like she hadn't heard anything then chastised Yang for tying her up. After that the morning went on fairly normally, or at least as normal as their usual morning routines.

 _With Kisame_

"What made you want to tag along on this one?" Kisame asked the man next to him in the bullhead.

"What do you mean? I gotta make sure my niece is safe around you guys whenever she randomly disappears to go see you, so I thought I'd see more of what you can do." Qrow said taking out his flask. "Besides this is a bigger mission and your buddy isn't here with ya this time, so I thought I'd make sure it all goes smoothly." He finished.

Qrow wasn't wrong Kisame admitted to himself. After the first boring mission and a few more similar to it he had grown bored, so he accepted a bigger mission to protect a town by eliminating a circling horde of Grimm. It was also true he didn't have Itachi with him since he was off doing other things. That said with Qrow around he'd have to be more careful about how he takes care of the Grimm. Don't want to give away too many secrets after all.

"Well I suppose it shouldn't be too big of an issue just don't slow me down old man." Kisame joked.

"Who're you calling old buddy I'll have you know I'm still in my prime." Qrow replied with snark.

"Is that so? From what I've seen so far you just like to watch while I kill Grimm."

"Well if that's what you think I'll show you how a true huntsman takes care of Grimm." He said patting the handle of the sword on his back.

"Sure, why not, but let's make this interesting. What do you say to a friendly bet?" Kisame asked with his signature grin.

"A bet huh? Now this _is_ getting interesting what're the stakes?" He asked grinning himself. He hadn't been on a real mission with others in quite a while, and for the moment he was enjoying this banter with a man he admittedly doesn't know that well.

Kisame's grin grew.

 _With Itachi_

"This map has most of the city's different places of interest marked?" Itachi asked.

"They should have all of the ones you wanted to know about unless someone is going under the table and cutting me out of a deal." One Roman Torchwick said looking over the map as well.

"You've got different fences and hideouts marked clearly, but what about anything you don't personally have a hand in?"

"Kid there's a reason Cinder picked me out of the rest of the mooks in this city. Before she showed up, I was running the underground here, and now that she's gone, I can go back to doing just that." He said with no small amount of pride.

"Is that so?" The Uchiha asked looking off to the side to see Neo just watching the two while eating an ice cream cone.

Neo nodded slightly before focusing on her tasty treat again.

Itachi was going to look over the map again before his scroll buzzed. He looked at it to see a message from Kisame.

Roman had recently been asked to… appropriate scrolls for the both of them since they had already used the burner scroll.

Itachi read the text. 'The old bird and I are betting on who can kill more Grimm on this mission. If I win, he'll let me in on some of his information networks, excluding anything about Ozpin for some reason, and if I lose then I promised to "show him something cool". He's just like red sometimes.'

Itachi rested his head on one of his hands. 'I've left him alone for a day and look what he's done.' He thought with a sigh. 'Oh well nothing to do about it now.' He quickly went back to what he had been doing.

"Is something the matter?" Roman asked not really interested in the answer, but just asking.

"Nothing just Kisame being Kisame." Itachi said before glancing up at the thief. "You seem distracted is something the matter with you?"

"I'm curious about what you're going to do about the White Fang's invitation." Roman admitted looking the ninja in those eyes of his that were thankfully black at the moment.

"They can be another useful source of information." 'And they can be a good way to study the Faunus more closely.' Itachi added in thought.

"I don't personally care what you guys do, but you did help us with Cinder, so I'm just giving you a fair warning. While the bull may've been the one to invite you to the Fang his subordinates might not be quite as willing to work with a human. I didn't work with them long, but they were almost never happy to see me. Their reactions weren't surprising or undeserved mind you, but you get what I mean." Roman said.

"Thanks for the warning I'll be sure to be mindful of everyone." Itachi said. From what he gathered unlike the Akatsuki where the members were chosen for quality rather than quantity, the White Fang accepted any Faunus they came across. That said it is quite easy for quality with overconfidence to be overwhelmed by higher numbers. Just look at Hidan and Kakuzu. Both too confident in their supposed immortality and abilities that they both fell to Naruto's group.

Roman nodded. "What are you going to do next?" He asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure. I've already made my move, so for now I'll study the board and wait for another move to be made." He said cryptically.

"Another schemer just like my old boss?" He formed it more into a question than an accusation.

"I don't know if I would call it scheming, but I do like to have a plan or two for whatever comes our way. That being said I'd like to move onto the other reason I came here." He said reminding Roman of the other thing they had talked about.

"I have the supplies here. Like I said anything you need for material just ask, but it's up to you to find a way to make it." Roman said leading Itachi to another room with different materials of all shapes and sizes.

Itachi smiled. "I think I can figure something out for that." He said before calling out to Ruby.

 _With Ruby_

Ruby was in one of her classes when she felt Itachi calling, so this time instead of getting yelled at she excused herself to the bathroom for a moment of privacy before fully "talking" to Itachi.

'Good afternoon Ruby.'

'Good afternoon Itachi. Is there something you need?' She asked.

'Yes, I'm sorry to call when you're probably in another class, but I wanted to ask about your weapon Crescent Rose.'

'Oh, what about her?' Ruby asked confused.

'If I remember right, I believe you mentioned that you were the one to make her.' He said.

'Yes, I made her.' Ruby confirmed.

'I know it is a lot to ask, but I'm in need of a new weapon.' Itachi started.

'Oh! You want me to make you something?' She asked getting excited over the idea and already of thinking of different weapons that might suit her mysterious friend.

'If you wouldn't mind then yes. I have access to resources to make what I have in mind, but I've never been much of a smith, and I don't have anywhere to make it.' He said letting her know what his biggest problem was.

'Well Beacon does have a forge that the students can use. I've been down there once or twice to look at… the facilities… yeah…' She said laughing awkwardly.

Itachi raised an eyebrow in amusement on his side. To Roman it looked strange. He hadn't seen Itachi move at all for the past few minutes aside from raising an eyebrow? Itachi realized this and decided he'd have to work on not freezing up like he did whenever he talked to Ruby.

'If I were to get you the materials and details of what I have in mind then would you be able to make it?' He asked.

'Oh my gosh I'd love too! I noticed you never had anything except for those short throwing blades and have been wanting to see you with an actual weapon… no offence.' She said quickly realizing how that sounded.

'Don't worry about it.' Itachi thought back amused.

'Do you want to meet up soon to talk about all the details?' Ruby asked hopefully. She loved her team she really did but being around Itachi and Kisame was just simple… unless Yang was there.

'If that's what you want to do then that's fine, I'll talk to you more about it this weekend, and don't forget you can always call to ask about things yourself.'

'Actually, now that you mention it…'

'Yes?' He asked.

'I don't know what to do about my sister. She still doesn't like you guys and even tied me to the bed this morning, so I wouldn't be able to leave.'

'…' If he was being honest, he wasn't sure how to respond to that. 'You remember how I mentioned my brother in the past?'

'Yes.'

'Well when we were younger, I wanted nothing more than to protect him, and even throughout the rest of my time in the other place everything I did was to protect him and our village. It was only too late that I realized that maybe he didn't need me to protect him in the way I did. I lied to him, distanced myself, and became an obstacle for him to overcome, but in the end, I realized there were better ways to handle everything with him. Your sister sounds like she's doing what she thinks she should to protect you. If that's the case, then why not work to show her you don't need it. She sees you as her little sister and that'll never change, but if you can show her that you're also her equal then she might let up a bit on her… methods.' He said. It wasn't a great plan but thinking back on it then he might've been able to have a closer relationship with Sasuke if he had just told him the truth rather than trying to protect him from it.

Ruby thought for a moment. 'I'm not really sure how to do that.' She admitted.

'Why not have a spar with her?' Itachi asked. 'Even if you don't win, if you give her a hard-enough fight then that might open her eyes a bit.'

'Hmm… alright! Thanks Itachi!' She thought pumping herself up for their combat class later.

'No problem. Good luck.' He said cutting the connection.

 **A/N: Hello everyone. Good to "see" you all again. Yes I added a few personal statements in the chapter that were more my thoughts than anything as I so helpfully pointed out. I don't regret anything.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. This is the first time we see our duo split up so far in this fic, so we will see how that goes.**

 **As I'm sure you can imagine next time we could possibly see a spar, a bet, or perhaps something else who knows.**

 **Umm reviews reviews... I thank everyone for your feedback on the jutsu thing, and have decided I'm just going to put the jutsu names in italics. If you want to imagine them saying the jutsu names, thinking them, or just doing the hand signs for them then that's up to you I don't personally care and you guys had varying opinions on that.**

 **Mama dragon mode no kidding.**

 **Oh and someone said they were getting a TFS vibe from Ruby's training. If I had to guess then maybe you're talking about DBZA, but idk I haven't seen it personally. Heard it was good though.**

 **Anyways I believe that's all. I might be able to get another chapter out pretty soon since I'm out of school for a bit, but I'm not making any promises.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **Laz out.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 8

 _With Kisame and Qrow_

 _On the way to the Town of Ardent_

The ride in the bullhead wasn't very long, but to the men riding it was taking forever. Kisame and Qrow had come up with a bet to see who could kill the most Grimm on the mission, but after the bet was made, they didn't really have anything else to say to each other, so they sat there in silence. Both of them were familiar with the isolation of silence. Qrow because he often worked and traveled alone, and Kisame because his partner was usually quiet and the whole ninja thing. That being said neither of them liked the silence.

Qrow saw the man across from him as amiable enough, but he still didn't know anything about the blue man, and his general presence gave a feeling of pressure to the very air around him. A sense of danger. Most people wouldn't notice it because if they were looking at him, they would probably already feel intimidated by the large man with an equally large sword. Qrow wasn't intimidated by the man's size because he knew that the size of a person doesn't give a good description of power, just look at his niece and her mother. Even so he couldn't help but feel the pressure the man across from him was exerting without doing anything. He was just sitting on the bench with his eyes closed, yet the pressure was still there, and through his many years of service as a huntsman he could safely say he had only felt this feeling from one individual, old Oz.

A maiden? Maybe if they were actively trying to intimidate someone. The queen's forces? The one's he had come across not even close. Even the headmasters of the other schools didn't give off this feeling. That's what worried Qrow the most. Not the fact that he exuded this pressure similar to Oz's no. What worried him is that there were two of them. His partner wasn't a flashy fighter per say and seemed to be the cloak and dagger type, but where Kisame gave off this pressure to the surrounding area, his partner did the opposite. He gave no feeling at all. On missions he would disappear and reappear as if it was just like breathing. That's what worried Qrow. The young Uchiha was definitely strong, but he didn't give off any indication of it. He was a complete mystery in terms of strength and power, and he seemed content to keep it that way. His youngest niece hanging around the two every now and again didn't help, but they seemed to be friends, and they hadn't given him any reason to think that would change, so despite his cautiousness of the two he would trust Ruby's judgement.

Kisame on the other hand wasn't really thinking about the man sitting in the cabin with him. No, he was thinking about this upcoming mission. He had learned over the years to trust his gut instinct, and he had a bad feeling about this particular mission. He wasn't worried for himself or even the man across from him. The feeling he was experiencing felt like the calm before the storm. This mission wouldn't turn out how either of them thought it would. That much he could say for certain.

"Can you feel it?" Kisame asked opening his eyes breaking the other man out of his thoughts.

"Feel what exactly?" Qrow asked wondering if they were talking about the same thing.

"The sense of foreboding in the air. Something bad is about to happen, and I'm not sure we will make it in time to stop it." Kisame said looking outside one of the windows.

Before Qrow could respond the pilot's voice came over the intercom system. "We are almost within sight of the town of Ardent and should reach our landing point shortly."

Before the intercom was turned off the muffled sound of the co-pilot was heard by the men in the cabin. Suddenly the pilot's voice came back. "There appears to be smoke coming from the direction of the town. Since this is a possible emergency situation what are your orders?" As soon as the pilot finished that Qrow and Kisame got up and ran into the pilot's area.

Qrow looked out and saw the large plumes of smoke. "You said that was in the direction of the town?" He asked the pilot who looked at the digital map nervously then towards the smoke.

"According to the map that is where the town is."

Qrow looked to Kisame whose face was unreadable.

"Alright slight change of plans we're going in hot literally. Get us as close as you can, and we'll figure out what's going on down there." Qrow said to the pilot.

Kisame looked around at the people in the front cabin then directly to the pilots. "Has there been any contact from this town? Distress signals? Anything?" He asked.

"No, the communication lines have been completely silent, but this area isn't known for having the best signal in the first place, so it isn't that uncommon." He answered.

'Wonderful.' Kisame thought sarcastically. 'Back home I'd think it was a raid on the town be it by enemy shinobi or bandits, but here I'm not sure. There are many possible causes of why a town would be burning, but I don't know a damn thing about this place in particular.' He thought with a frown.

Normally he'd think a random burning town wasn't his business, but his mission was to help protect the town, so protect the town he would do, or at least try to.

Within another few minutes they were close enough to see many of the buildings on fire.

"With the smoke we can't get much closer, so this is as far as we can take you. We'll find a place to land and then wait on your call. If we don't hear anything after 24 hours, we will assume the town has been lost, and return to Vale and let the HA know what's happened." The pilot said looking at the two huntsmen behind him.

"Don't worry we'll call you back in a bit." Qrow said before opening the side of the bullhead. Kisame looked at the pilots once more before jumping out the side and making his way to the burning town. For some reason he didn't completely trust what the pilot said. 'Why would they wait a full day before contacting the Hunter's Association instead of contacting them now to possibly get backup and transport ships for evacuation?' He asked himself as he landed in a tree. A few seconds later Qrow landed near him.

"Come on the sooner we get to the town the better." Qrow said running in the direction of Ardent.

Matching the older man's pace Kisame decided to voice one of his concerns. "Don't you think it's strange?" Kisame asked as he ran alongside the other man.

"What's that?"

"We arrive to find a town burning, but we received no reports, notices, distress signals, or anything." Kisame answered causing Qrow to frown.

"You're right it is strange." Qrow admitted. The town was out of the way, but the signal tower was usually able to connect to the CCT, so what had happened?

'I suppose I'll just have to be ready for anything just like back then.' Kisame thought to himself. This felt all too familiar to him, and in this situation that was probably a bad thing.

When they reached the outskirts of the town, they started looking around for anything to help paint this picture. People, Grimm, anything.

The first thing they came across were some houses. Most of them on fire, but the ones that weren't they quickly checked only to find corpses.

'This doesn't look like Grimm.' Qrow thought noticing that the corpses weren't completely mangled and partially eaten. Grimm usually ate their kill unless something else caught their attention.

"How sharp can Grimm claws get exactly?" Kisame asked inspecting one of the bodies.

"They can easily cut you apart if that's what you're asking." Qrow said looking towards the other man. What he saw didn't help his sometimes-paranoid mind. Most people would be affected by scenes like this. People slaughtered so mercilessly, hell even he didn't like to see these kinds of things, but this guy was still unfazed. Almost as if he was used to seeing things like this, and then something in his mind clicked. One of the few things that he had learned about the two. They lived outside the kingdoms. They probably _have_ come across scenes like this, be it done by Grimm or people, before.

"I don't think a Grimm was responsible for these wounds. At least no Grimm I've ever heard of." Kisame said getting up. Qrow had been thinking that the people were too whole to have been killed by the Grimm, and Kisame had been thinking that the wounds didn't quite fit any Grimm he had learned about. The wounds were too clean, too precise, to be a mindless Grimm. Lacerations in the necks of most of the corpses with other cuts decorating the bodies. There were also some puncture wounds caused by low caliber bullets. They weren't really a thing in his world since they didn't exist, but both he and Itachi had done their research on this world's technology including firearms.

"Grimm don't shoot guns." Qrow said with a nod. "Whoever did this went through a lot of trouble to make sure everyone was dead."

"Dead men tell no tales." Kisame said before walking out. "Let's see if there's anyone left in the town. We might be able to find survivors or the killer themselves."

"It could be bandits. Towns like this one are a pretty easy score in their eyes. No huntsmen, limited defenses, etc." Qrow said as they walked through the streets.

The most unsettling part of all of this was the silence. They heard the fires burning, but nothing else. There wasn't anything to go off of to help their search. No cries of help, screams, voices, howls of Grimm, or anything.

Once they reached what Kisame assumed was once the town square he stopped and looked around. 'Any minute now.' He thought to himself before looking at Qrow. "This one might be out of our control. I don't know if we'll find anyone alive here. Perhaps we should head back." He suggested getting a weird look from Qrow.

"What are you- look out!" He yelled drawing Harbinger in its sword form and knocking away something that was flying towards Kisame.

Kisame looked more amused than anything to see Qrow trying to protect him. It made his plan to incapacitate the intruder just as they were about to strike meaningless though. With an inaudible sigh he looks to the person who was knocked away. Standing there across from them with a large smile on his face was a man wearing a dark brown jacket that was opened in the front. Beneath the jacket Kisame could see scars crossing his chest, and trims of white clothing underneath. The man had gold eyes and brown hair that appeared to be brought back in a ponytail.

Qrow was standing with Harbinger in front of him staring at the man. "Who are you?" He called.

Seemingly just noticing his presence the man looked over towards Qrow. "My my as I live and breathe… Qrow Branwen." He said before bowing slightly. "Unfortunately, who I am matters not to you. Who I am only matters to you." He finished pointing at Kisame.

"Then would you be so kind as to introduce yourself?" Kisame asked with a grin. This might be fun.

"Ah he has manners how polite! Yes, my name dear friend is Tyrian, and if I'm not mistaking you would be called Kisame." He said bowing once again.

"You would be correct. What exactly do you want with me?"

"Me personally I don't want anything from you, but my queen has ordered me to hunt you down after you attacked her little pet." Tyrian said with his own grin.

'Little pet? Queen?' Qrow thought slowly piecing everything together.

"And who would that be? I don't remember harming any animals during my daily routine." Kisame said matching his grin to Tyrians.

"You don't know do you? That little wench you and your little friend put into a coma a while back." He said laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

Qrow looked towards Kisame concerned.

Kisame just chuckled. "She's still not awake I take it?" He asked.

"No, we have no idea when she'll wake up! Isn't that hilarious!?" He asked still laughing.

'You really did overdue it Itachi.' He thought to himself. 'But I suppose it worked out in the end except they found me first rather than you.' "How is your dear queen taking that? What was her name again? Saleem?"

Tyrian's laughter stopped. "If you wish to refer to Mistress Salem then say her name correctly and with the reverence she deserves!" He shouted.

'That was easier than I thought it'd be.' Kisame thought to himself. He then remembered Qrow was standing next to him. 'Guess I can see a bit of what he knows as well.'

Qrow had a frown on his face. He didn't know who exactly Kisame and Itachi put into a coma, but if it was one of Salem's "pets" then that'd explain what this nutjob is doing here, but how'd those two find out about someone like her?

"Well Tyrian now that we've introduced ourselves indulge me for a moment. Did you attack this town?" Kisame asked.

Looking around Tyrian frowned. "It isn't my style really, but I suppose I was the one who attacked it."

"Why?"

"In hopes to ambush you like I had attempted to of course. It's hard to set up an ambush with more people around wouldn't you say?" Tyrian answered.

"And how did you know I'd be here?"

"That I'm afraid I can't really say, but I will give you a hint if you manage to survive." He said grinning and activating his wrist blades.

"I suppose I could beat the answers out of you." Kisame grinned taking Samehada off his back.

"I think I'm starting to like You!" He screamed as he rushed forwards swinging at Kisame.

'Fast… but he's not Itachi. Frankly, he's not even close to that stupid blue beast Might Guy.' He thought swinging Samehada to match the other man's swing. 'Oh well haven't fought a human enemy in a while might as well have fun with it.'

When the blades met, they stopped and were locked against each other. Qrow took this as a chance to attack from Tyrian's blind spot. Unfortunately for him he easily saw it coming, so he jumped up and pushed off of Kisame's blade back at the huntsman kicking him in the stomach then proceeded to jump back at Kisame.

This time Kisame added a bit more force behind his swing and swung down forcing Tyrian to catch Samehada with his own blades and do his best to not be crushed.

'He's stronger than I thought he'd be.' Tyrian admitted to himself with a grin.

By now Qrow had gotten back up and saw Kisame attempting to crush Tyrian beneath his blade, and he was slowly succeeding. Deciding to help again he quickly appeared behind the man knowing he couldn't move away from this attack.

When Harbinger was about to meet the other man's back both Qrow and Kisame were shocked to see a tail come out from the jacket to stop the sword.

'Interesting a faunus?' Kisame thought to himself.

Suddenly Tyrian broke both holds against the two and jumped away throwing his jacket to the side. "Now that we're all warmed up let's truly begin." He said with a grin.

"It looks like a scorpion tail… possibly venomous." Kisame said more to himself than anything. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Qrow jumped at Tyrian again paying attention to any possible problems or blessings his semblance may make to the surrounding terrain. It wasn't something he really liked, but one must work with what they're given.

As the two dueled each other Kisame was watching them. 'They're kind of similar.' He thought before blurring behind Tyrian.

While he was fighting the intruding huntsman Tyrian noticed that Kisame wasn't where he had been a moment ago then relying purely on instinct, he raised his tail before feeling a weight crushing down on it making the faunus in question wince. His pain was magnified when he felt something stabbing into his tail.

Then for a moment everything stopped. That moment was when Kisame pulled.

"AAAAAAARRGHHHH!" Tyrian screamed as he weakly jumped away then looked at his tail, or what was left of it.

At Kisame's feet were pieces of the man's tail cruelly ripped off courtesy of Samehada that had a few spikes sticking out from its bandage wrap.

"That's one how many more until you start talking?" Kisame asked showing off his teeth.

Tyrian wasn't sure he could beat this guy anymore, so he went with the backup plan despite not liking it at all. He hated running from a fight. "Well Kisame you've surprised me today… I'll give you that hint I promised. Friends in high places." Was all he said before taking a small ball and throwing it on the ground. An explosion of smoke came from the ball blocking both their views from the injured man. Qrow was about to go through but he noticed the same thing Kisame had. Poison. A poisonous smoke bomb.

'I guess working with Sasori had its perks.' Kisame thought. They had all grown used to seeing poison in some of the many forms Sasori employed in his fighting style including poison smoke.

Jumping up to the roof of one of the nearby buildings he saw a bullhead taking off in the distance. "Damn I'd have to use a jutsu to catch it now, but the huntsman is here." He grumbled as he watched the ship fly off. 'Wait… ship.'

A second later he was back on the ground with Qrow searching through a few more buildings.

"No one's still alive this mission was a bust." Qrow said before looking at the blue-skinned man. "Why was that guy after you exactly?"

Kisame looked at him. "Like he said it would seem we pissed off the wrong person."

Qrow just looked at him before shaking his head. He couldn't ask much more without giving up some info himself, and it didn't look like either of them wanted to share.

"Let's get back to the ship I'll call the pilot and let him know we're on our way." Qrow said picking his scroll from his pocket.

"Wait a second don't call yet." He said getting a strange look from Qrow.

"Why not?"

"What did he just say. Friends in high places, and that reminded me of something from earlier." At Qrow's questioning gaze he elaborated. "Something about that pilot has been bothering me. Why would he just wait somewhere without informing the HA about the change in situation for a full day? Why wasn't he worried about this 'unexpected' destruction of a town? How did Tyrian, who was specifically looking for me, know exactly what mission I was on when I signed up for the mission yesterday?" He asked.

"… I'm not sure. Do you think they'd really have any control in the HA?" Qrow asked.

"Depends how many people knew about my taking this mission aside from you?" Kisame asked.

"I would imagine some of the more senior members had access to the information, but aside from that no one comes to mind." Qrow admitted hesitantly.

"So, we can't trust the Association either." Kisame concluded more for himself than Qrow. "What do you say we have a little chat with those pilots of ours?"

"Alright let's test this little theory of yours." Qrow said.

Without another word the duo made their way to where the bullhead would probably be. When they saw it, they approached from one of the blind spots and Qrow opened up the door startling the pilots.

"O-Oh you're back already. We thought you'd call… Where's the blue one?" The first pilot said shaking slightly but starting to calm down.

"He's not here at the moment, but I'd like to talk to you two." Qrow said noticing the co-pilot seemed to be sweating.

"What did you need?" The pilot asked having recovered the most.

"I wanted to ask you gentlemen why you were picked for this assignment." Qrow said.

"It was just the assignment we were assigned no other reason." The pilot said.

"I see, but why wasn't it my usual pilot? She's cuter than you two." He said making them glance at each other.

"We were merely assigned to this mission she must've been busy with something else." The pilot offered.

"Really? That's not what she told me when we had a drink together last night. She said that you two volunteered to take her place on this mission, and the senior board approved." He said narrowing his eyes. "So, if you two wouldn't mind telling me why that'd be great, and I would hurry if I were you my friend will be back soon, and he didn't seem to be in a good mood."

"We don't know okay! Some of the senior board members just ordered us to take you on this mission and gave us the 24-hour timeframe thing!" Shouted the co-pilot getting a glare from the pilot.

"So, you were right." Qrow said looking to his right much to the pilots' fears.

"Yes, it would seem so." Kisame said coming into view holding Samehada. Without another word he grabbed the pilot and threw him out of the ship and skidding across the ground.

Qrow decided to watch the co-pilot who was shaking by this point. Leaning against the doorframe he looked towards the co-pilot. "Anything else you think might be important to tell us?" He asked casually as Kisame slowly approached the downed pilot.

"No, I don't think so." The co-pilot said nervously.

"That's too bad because I think my friend over there wants a few more answers like who on the board specifically asked you two to fly us."

"I don't remember who all was there." He said hesitantly.

"Well I guess we will see if your friend remembers because I don't think he'll take no for an answer. Earlier I saw him rip a faunus' tail to pieces with that sword of his. It sounded extremely painful. I wonder if he'll do the same to this man." He wondered aloud.

"Do you think he'd kill him?" He asked before hearing the pilot screaming.

"I think he'll be lucky if that's all he does. I already told him I can fly the bullhead solo, so if he were to kill you both it would just make some more paperwork for me. No big deal really." Qrow answered as the pilot's screaming was getting louder.

Kisame had decided it would be easier to get answers from one of the pilots if the other was broken in front of them, so he was taking his time. First, he drained most of the man's already weak aura. Then Samehada extended some of its spikes and Kisame was now raking them across the man's back shredding the man's clothes and some of his skin. He could have just cut limbs off, but the probability of him bleeding out was much higher.

The co-pilot upon realizing his own mortality and that they didn't need him or his partner to fly them back had him as pale as a ghost.

"You alright buddy you look a little pale." Qrow said to the frozen co-pilot.

"W-what did you want again?" He asked shakily.

"Just to know who on the senior council wanted you nice men to fly us today." Qrow said with a charming smile.

"If I tell you will you spare us?" He asked seriously.

"There's a larger chance than if you don't tell us at all." Qrow offered. "I don't know if you can hear it over the screaming, but I don't think Kisame has asked a single question yet."

"Alright fine the council member who approached us was Vice-chairman Watts." He said causing Qrow's eyes to widen. 'The vice-chairman…'

"Kisame hold up on the torture thing and get over here I have a question for that one." 'Might as well compare answers.' Qrow thought.

With a smirk Kisame put Samehada back on his back and picked up the sprawled-out bleeding man by the back of his neck. When they got to the bullhead Kisame held the man in front of Qrow.

"Who was it that instructed you to take this mission?" Qrow asked.

"Fuck you…" He spat out before being thrown onto the ground back first causing him to scream out again.

"Well my friend I'm running out of patience here. Attempts on your life tend to do that as I'm sure you can imagine." Kisame said stepping on the man's chest. "Answer the question and it all stops."

"Fine… it was the vice-chairman…" He muttered.

Kisame looked to Qrow. "Co-pilot here said the same thing." Qrow said.

"Well that's a start." Kisame said picking up the pilot then looking towards the co-pilot. "Why don't you join us in the back." He ordered with a grin showing his teeth.

Nodding slowly the co-pilot joined the two in the back while Qrow got ready to fly. 'That went better than I expected, but that means we have a few problems I need to talk to Oz about.'

In the back of the cabin Kisame had tied both pilots up and tossed them on the floor while he waited for them to reach Vale. He could ask more questions, but it was pretty clear these two weren't the brightest of pawns, so he'd just investigate it personally with Itachi later.

By the time they got back the sun had set. When they arrived, they found the hangar area empty, so the two decided to split up.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be getting paid for this job, so sorry about that." Qrow said before looking to the pilots. "I'll take these two to the VPD then let Ozpin know what's going on. You and your friend might not trust him, but I trust him more than the HA."

"Do what you wish I need to let Itachi know as well." 'It looks like it's our move then.' He added as he left.

 _With Itachi_

Itachi hadn't been having the best of days, but at least it was amusing. When he asked Ruby about the weapon thing, she was excited. Too excited. She decided to call him after her classes asking about materials, specific measurements, dust chambering, and a bunch of other things. After that she proceeded to let him know of all the different ideas she had come up with including something called the Lightning Zweihander or something like that. He really just wanted a new sword, but oh well he let her have her fun. Admittedly he didn't have much to do that day aside from wait for Kisame to return, so he spent a mind-numbing amount of time listening to her talk about the different things he could do. Eventually he did get her to calm down enough to let her know that as nice as all of those ideas sounded, he already had something a bit simpler in mind. Despite her questioning he refused to tell her what it was, and he ended up enjoying her attempt to use 'puppy eyes' over a telepathic connection. Anyways by the time Kisame returned he was practicing with his shuriken. He did it now more out of boredom and necessity to keep himself sharp rather than trying to further perfect it.

"Itachi do you have a minute?" Kisame asked walking towards the Uchiha.

"Yes, what is it? You look happy about something." He said.

"That mission earlier today was a setup." He said simply causing Itachi to raise an eyebrow.

After explaining what happened on the mission Itachi went over everything he had learned again. "Whoever this Salem person is we've angered her, and she has people in high places like the Hunter's Association?" He asked. At Kisame's nod he continued. "And she was mad that I put that woman in a coma?" He clarified.

"That's what the loon said." Kisame said with a grin.

"You mentioned Qrow was reporting this to Ozpin?"

"Yes, that's what he said he'd do after taking the pilots to the police station."

"That's a waste of time either they'll be released or killed by tomorrow." Itachi said before sighing. "She made her move, but unfortunately it doesn't look like this is a game with only two players. Ozpin will fit into all of this too. In fact, he might know more about Salem than we do. Cinder had useful information, but there wasn't much about her other than promising the girl power." He thought aloud.

Kisame nodded. "At least now we have some leads to look into. Vice-Chairman Watts will probably disappear when they find out what happened, but we can still go pick Ozpin's brain about things if need be."

"Don't forget about Roman's group and the White Fang. Everyone has their own sets of eyes and ears, so we might be able to figure something out while we wait." Itachi said.

"Right. How is everything looking on that side?"

"It's going pretty well. Roman has many more contacts than I had originally thought, and like a certain greedy immortal we once knew those contacts all answer to him. It appears before Cinder appeared, he was running the underground around Vale, and was working on expanding." Itachi said.

"Well that's good to hear." Kisame said before asking about the weapon. "Did you talk to red yet?" He asked.

"Just yes would be an understatement, but yes I asked her about it, and she proceeded to tell me about every idea she had for about two hours." Itachi said with a sigh.

Kisame couldn't help but laugh at his partner's expense. "That's too good."

"Right." Itachi waved dismissively. At least for the foreseeable future he had a few things to do.

 **A/N: Well that happened. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. For the longest time I didn't know what I was going to do, and where I was gonna take this story, but writing this chapter made me think of a possible path that I think will be fun.**

 **Aside from that thanks everyone for the favorites, follows, and reviews.**

 **Specifically to the reviews...**

 **Marouan: Who are you hoping they share their past with? Ruby will learn more as time goes on, but who else are you asking about?**

 **G: Every time I read your review I laughed to myself. Mostly because I didn't understand it at first. I recognized the name even though I'd never played through Dark Souls, but didn't really get it for a minute. Anyways as an honorable mention I mentioned your suggestion for fun.**

 **To anyone worrying about the weapons don't worry I hope that you see what kind of weapon Itachi has in mind. Not like the design or model, but just a general idea.**

 **There is one review I've been wondering about from Demon-Maxwell. Can another person confirm this for me. It's not that I don't trust or anything, but I myself don't have access to those light novels and in the anime adaptation episodes of the novels that were randomly thrown into the show it didn't show what happened to the girl other than Tobi taking her. I think that was the girl. If it is true then holy hell man Itachi my dude... :'( Good guy Itachi. Anyways that'd be pretty cool, and would be an explanation for the un-explainable disease.**

 **Again thanks everyone for the reviews. Good or bad I do enjoy reading them feedback is usually pretty useful.**

 **Oh before I forget. I know my first story has an OC in it, and I know that I personally enjoy writing that story, but I don't like OC's in general, and in this story I don't really want to use any, so that's why I threw Watts where he is. If I'm off the canonical path anyways it should be alright, but in case any of you were wondering he's the only one from WTCH I could see doing something like that.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 9

"We're here. Remember, don't try to antagonize these two, and keep your distaste for humans under control." Adam said looking back to the Lieutenant.

"I've got it covered let's just get this over with." The lieutenant said. He already didn't like the idea of meeting with the ones who took down the witch. The fact that Adam planned on offering to work with them only made matters worse. The last problem that came to his mind now was that they didn't choose where they were meeting. The other two did.

Adam walked up to the door of one of the many warehouses in this district and knocked a specific pattern.

After a few painfully slow seconds the two faunus heard the creaking of the doors opening. What met them was a man wearing a black suit with a black shirt and red tie on. He also wore red shades. On his hip was a dust pistol and a red machete. "Just the two of you correct?" He asked receiving a curt nod from Adam. "Follow me." He said before leading them deeper into the warehouse. Well it looked like just a plain warehouse, but the henchman then led the two down some stairs leading to an underground series of hallways.

The two White Fang members realized this had Torchwick written all over it. Apparently, he was holding more out on Cinder than they had thought.

After walking through the winding maze of corridors they entered a larger open room. In the center of the room was a table surrounded by the two people they were looking for. Different documents and what looked like reports were scattered across the table with the two looking them over.

Without looking Itachi spoke up. "I'm glad to see the both of you made it. This base is quite the maze."

"Yes, I noticed during our walk here." Adam said without moving from where he was.

Itachi looked up and eyed their two guests. "You can go back to whatever Roman had you doing now. Thank you for leading these two here." He said to the henchman who nodded and returned to his own task. "Now if you would come sit. Negotiations tend to go smoother if all parties are sitting comfortably." He finished as he and Kisame cleared the table.

There were already chairs at the table with two on each side. After they had put the reports away, the duo returned to the table and took a seat. Hesitantly Adam and the Lieutenant followed suit.

"I assume this meeting is about my offer to you all from the other day?" Adam asked getting straight to the point.

"Yes, that is why we called you here." Itachi said with a nod. "You said that we could join your organization if we wished to, did you not?"

"Yes, that was what I offered you." Adam said with a small nod.

"What is it that the White Fang does? What is it meant to do because the news paints your organization in a bad color." He said still watching them. The Lieutenant seemed to be trying to hold himself back from doing something, but without seeing his face, it was hard to tell exactly what. Adam kept his own stoic mask.

"We seek to gain equality for the Faunus people." Adam said simply. He knew how the media and public viewed their organization, so it would be best to just answer their questions directly without a fanatical show of patriotism to the faunus.

"And to gain equality it seems that you've moved from peaceful protesting and boycotts to arson, robbery, and murder?" Itachi asked neutrally.

"… yes, the old methods while peaceful, weren't making a great enough impact. The methods being used now are making that impact. Faunus are being treated better now than they have in a long time." Adam answered.

"Purely out of fear of possible backlash from the Fang itself." Kisame grunted finally contributing to the conversation.

The Lieutenant was listening, but his sole focus was on the shark-like man in front of him.

"…" Adam didn't say anything to that.

"You know I once knew a man like you Adam. He was dealt a bad hand in life like most of us. He had been hurt by the world through the loss of his family, his friends, and those he once worked with he watched them all fall one by one. Despite all of this he sought out peace. He felt that conflict could only stop once everyone has felt the same pain, and once that happened fear of that pain would ward against future conflict. With that in mind he set out to bring real pain to the world, and you know what? In the end he failed. Even with his best efforts he couldn't achieve his goal. He was stopped by another person with the same end goal, but a better, if slightly more difficult, path to reach it." Itachi said with a wistful look. "Tell me… is this current path the only one you can see?"

Adam was completely silent lost in his own thoughts of the past. His own childhood that had been taken from him. His escape from those damned dust mines. The loss of the rest of his family… The hope he'd had when joining the Fang. The disappointment with the lack of progress. The friendships he'd made and broken with his own hands. His own desire to make the humans feel just what he felt. For them to experience what it's like to be branded like nothing more than an animal. Was that all he was fighting with the Fang for?

The Lieutenant had shifted his focus over to his commander. 'Is he actually questioning our leader's righteous quest all because of the words of some human?' He asked himself shocked.

Itachi was glad that Adam was at least thinking over what he had said, but they did have other things to do. Namely Ruby's training session and retrieving the weapon he had asked her to put together. He could only hope she stuck to the specifications he had given her but knowing her he doubted that would happen.

"You don't have to answer this question right now." Itachi said breaking Adam from his thoughts. "When you have the answer to that question then we can resume our negotiations." He said sliding a scroll over to him. "When you're ready just give us a call on that and we will arrange something, but for now we have other business we need to attend to." He finished signaling Neo who had been sitting in the corner of the room with a bowl of ice cream.

Neo stood up and placed the long empty bowl next to where she had been sitting and put her hands on both faunus' shoulders before disappearing in a flash of light. The next thing the two knew they were outside the warehouse again, and before they could say anything Neo disappeared in another flash of light.

"Let's go." Adam said walking away. Slowly the Lieutenant followed lost in his own thoughts as well.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"What do you think?" Kisame asked his partner after Neo disappeared with their guests.

"I'm not sure. Only time will tell for this situation. There are too many things I don't know regarding him and whatever makes up his past, but I am pleased to see that he was seriously thinking about what I said." Itachi said as he stood up and got ready to leave.

They had been looking over the reports Roman had given them regarding the HA all morning. Truly if a simple criminal mastermind has people in something like the Hunter's Association then they didn't really need to question how their unknown enemy could do the same. In Kisame's eyes the lack of security around their "classified" documents was almost offensive.

The main reports they had been focused on were the situation at the town of Ardent, the sudden disappearance of the vice-chairman of the Association, and the recent passing of two of the HA's veteran pilots. All in all, there wasn't much to be done with any of it, but it did give them further insight into the HA itself.

The next thing on their agenda was something that both of them definitely enjoyed if for different reasons, training their young hooded friend.

The two gathered some supplies they might need in order to make the training 'interesting' and left the base that was serving as their current residence. Roman had given them reign over most of the underground area to use for whatever they may need, and while they didn't necessarily trust Roman, they understood the kind of man he was. He was a survivalist plain and simple, and he knew betraying them wouldn't be in his best interests. Even so, they had taken a few precautions here and there just in case. A backup plan or two never hurt.

They quickly and quietly made their way out of the base. After the first improv training session they had decided to meet up at different places in Vale before going to one of the _many_ places Ruby found for herself to train, whether it be a training ground from the past with her uncle or a more recent place she found.

"Where are we meeting with her today?" Kisame asked.

"There is a small park in the residential district that she suggested." Itachi answered.

"Do you think her sister will try and follow her again?" The shark asked.

"She has apparently done so each time, so this probably won't be any different." He answered.

Another new development it seems. Yang had recently taken to trying to follow the girl whenever she went out into Vale or with the duo somewhere, and while it was commendable for an older sibling to try and watch out for their younger sibling, the duo could tell it was grating on the young rose's nerves. She could just follow their suggestion and simply spar with her, but she was hesitant to do so although the reason wasn't completely clear.

Regardless they continued the training every few days. Should she disappear everyday she wouldn't be able to properly bond with her teammates, and it would be even more suspicious than it already was. That and she needed time to recover since the training usually left her very sore.

When they reached the park, they found Ruby already waiting for them with a bag. "Hey guys!" She said happily as she jumped off the swing she was sitting on with a small thud. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yes." Itachi answered as they started walking to their destination. "Have you gotten used to them yet?" He asked.

"Yea it wasn't too hard. And I think it's working." She answered.

"Well then little red what do you think we should work on today?" Kisame asked.

Ruby had long since gotten used to the nickname Kisame seemed insistent on calling her. "Well… I'm not really sure. We could keep trying that move from the other day, but it's hard to do with the weights on." She said looking down slightly.

"Sometimes your opponent will be much bigger than you, so the weights help build your strength and prepare you for situations like that." Itachi said. Of course, this specifically had to do with fighting against other people since very few people would take on Grimm with just their hands. Kisame is an outlier it seems.

"I know I know." She said shaking her head. "We should be almost here." She added on after a moment.

They were in a small clearing that wasn't too far away from the city. Itachi and Kisame didn't plan on sparring again, so there was no need to go too far outside Vale.

"Here we are." She said gesturing to the open area. "Now before we start, I wanted to go ahead and give this to you Itachi." She said setting her bag down and pulling out a cloth-covered object.

"Now I know you gave me specific instructions to follow, but I may have maybe added something to it." She said quickly rubbing the back of her head as she handed the object to the Uchiha.

"I had a feeling this would happen don't worry about it too much." He said with a smile. He unwrapped the cloth to reveal a simple black sheath with a red hilt coming out of it. 'Nothing out of the ordinary yet.' He thought as he pulled the blade out. What he was expecting was a chokuto reminiscent of the one his brother fought with, and it was basically that, but with a few extra grooves in the blade. "What're these grooves for?" He asked getting a sheepish smile.

"Well you said you didn't want it to be a gun, but rather a simple and reliable sword, but I thought it could use a little extra variety." She said getting a questioning gaze from the two ninja.

"Variety?" Itachi asked suspiciously.

"Here I'll show you." She said taking the sword. She then pulled a dust crystal from her bag. A burn crystal to be precise. "If you just insert a little crystal here." She said opening a small compartment in the handle and placing the crystal inside. "Then you activate it with your aura, or for you your 'not quite aura, but something close enough to it' then this should happen." She said as the blade of the sword burst into flames. "The grooves were where I added some conductors to channel dust through the weapon. I may have asked for a little help from Weiss for this part." She said before deactivating the crystal and thus extinguishing the flames.

'Interesting application.' Itachi mused to himself.

Ruby was slightly nervous because of his silence. "If you don't like it then I can remake it like you originally asked..." She said looking down to the ground sadly.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her head. "There's no need for that this is perfect." Itachi said rubbing her head and trying to get her to cheer up. It seemed to work when she looked up happily.

"Really?" She asked hopefully.

"Really." He said with a small smile.

"Yay!" She said hugging him before quickly backing away. "I tested it with fire, lightning, and ice dust, but those were the only three I checked."

"I'll be sure to put it to good use." He said sheathing the blade. "Thank you Ruby I couldn't ask for a more suitable sword."

"What're you going to name it?" Ruby asked making Itachi pause.

"I'm not sure I've never named a weapon before." He admitted shocking Ruby.

"You've never named one of your weapons before?!" She asked very confused.

"Naming weapons isn't as popular where we're from as it is here." He said.

"But what about Samehada? He has a name." Ruby said pointing to the sword on Kisame's back.

"I'm not the one who named it though." Kisame said. "Its original creator is the one who probably named it long before any of us were born."

"Hmm…" Ruby thought. "Well I think you should name it."

"Perhaps I'll call it… Shingetsu." Itachi said looking at the sword in his hands.

"Alright then I like it!" She said happily.

"Now that this is finished let's get back on track, I believe it's time to train some more." Kisame said pulling out some weights.

Ruby sweat-dropped. "More weights yay…" She said through a forced smile.

"They don't weigh that much Ruby." Itachi added as he decided to try and figure out where to put his new sword, so that it wouldn't hinder his movement too much. Back in the Anbu he had a sword across his back… He supposed that would do until it proved to cause a problem.

While Ruby and Kisame were debating on how much weight to add, Itachi strapped his new sword to the back of his cloak like Kisame had his, but with a smaller strap.

"Alright Ruby, Kisame, let's begin." He said looking to the other two.

Nodding Ruby got into her stance that they had been working on.

I'll leave what the stance looks like to your imagination.

Itachi walked a few steps away before turning back around. "Now come at me." He said calmly activating his Sharingan.

Ruby took a few seconds to adjust to the additional weights now strapped to her arms and legs before rushing the Uchiha. Itachi usually helped her hone her accuracy and speed when it came to hand-to-hand while Kisame taunted her to help make her attacks stronger.

When she shot her palm forwards, Itachi brushed her attack to the side. She used the already forward momentum to throw an elbow into his stomach. Itachi sidestepped the attack and hit her in the side sending her to the ground. She quickly got up and got ready again with a determined look on her face.

With a calming breath Ruby started using her aura. She shot off at the Uchiha much faster than she had before and started throwing a flurry of punches and kicks with Itachi dodging each one before punching her in the stomach knocking her back again, but not down.

Gritting her teeth Ruby got ready again. Tapping into her semblance she sped forward with a punch to his face that he blocked. Without letting up she punched again from behind only to hit nothing as Itachi tilted his head to the side. He then brought his leg around to kick her away. She decided to jump onto and kick off from his leg and tackle straight into his stomach, but in an impressive display of agility he completely bent back letting her fly over him, and then flipped back to kick her where she landed. Earning him a small grunt from the girl below him.

She got up again, albeit slower than last time. "Damn I thought I'd get you with that one." She said as she got into the stance again.

"You're steadily improving, but you aren't there yet." Itachi said before looking to the weights. "Take off the weights and let's go again."

"The new ones or all of them?" Ruby asked.

"All of them. Just like before except now I want you to go all out on the final attempt." He said earning an excited nod from the girl.

Ruby took all the weights off and put them in a pile a few feet away.

"Oh I feel so much lighter." She said jumping up and down a few times.

"Good maybe you'll hit me this time then."

Ruby frowned and focused. 'First attempt no aura.' She thought running forward quickly and sweeping at Itachi's feet. The young Uchiha jumped over the sweep just like she wanted. With a small grin she turned with the rest of her leg and punched towards the still airborne Itachi, but he saw this coming. He reached out and grabbed her arm pulling himself towards her before flipping over her shoulders and then throwing her across the ground hard.

Standing once more she growled under her breath. 'Second attempt aura, but no semblance.'

Pumping aura into her legs she shot off at Itachi like a bullet.

'So about her speed when using her semblance with the weights. Impressive.' He thought before moving to the side again. She was expecting this and grabbed his arm as she ran by and heaved with all her might, and with a spin threw Itachi up a few feet into the air, but to her dismay he righted himself in the air and landed in a crouch. He hadn't hit her back yet, so she still had another opportunity before the final attempt. With that in mind she got up in his face and started another flurry of quick punches that he continually dodged before catching one fist and then the other. With her hands being held she tried a headbutt but was kneed in the stomach and then thrown onto the ground again.

"Is this all you can do?" He taunted.

She got up once more with an angry look on her face but took a deep breath and calmed down. 'Final attempt. Give it everything!' She thought activating her semblance.

She was a red blur running every which way. 'This is what we're looking for.' Itachi thought with a smile as he instinctually ducked a kick aimed at his head. One moment she was there the next she was blurring about again looking for an opening. As she ran, she picked up some dusty dirt in one hand as she continued circling the Uchiha. Following her movements Itachi saw her hand scrape the ground and smirked. 'Trying to take away the advantage of my eyes. Smart.'

She appeared in front of him spinning and letting the dust fly into Itachi's face before blurring away again. She saw him standing still and no longer following her with his eyes, so she tried for the new technique they had shown her. She ran up from in front of him and slid before trying to kick up into his stomach. She even saw his eyes closed, but because of the collar of his cloak she couldn't see the smile he had on his face. Without warning he jumped to the side and spun a few times before landing with one hand on the ground. Without opening his eyes, he ran forward and hit her with a shoulder tackle sending her tumbling across the ground.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Ruby sprawled out on her back panting heavily. Kisame was off to the side watching. 'Held nothing back on that one how cruel.' He thought with a grin on his face.

"I thought… I had… you that time…" She said between breathes as he approached.

"There are very few things that my eyes can't see, but just because I can see them doesn't mean I'm always fast enough to react, so if you want to hit me then you just have to become faster than me." He said offering her a hand. She took it and stood up.

"Easier said than done." She muttered with a playful elbow.

"You still got enough in the tank for my turn?" Kisame asked as they approached.

Ruby bent down and started putting the weights back on and groaning slightly at the extra weight on her sore limbs. "Let me get a drink then I'll be good to go." She said before Itachi tossed her a water bottle.

"You don't want to keep him waiting trust me on that." He said with a wink before stepping off to the side. He was still needed to observe but didn't play an active part in this segment of the training.

Tossing the water away Ruby got ready with Kisame across from her.

Unlike Itachi's she wasn't trying to land a hit, but she was trying to land as good a hit as possible. Kisame would block most times and take a hit occasionally. Itachi was watching to make sure she didn't waste any of her aura in her attacks. It was slightly different to chakra, but he had adjusted to be able to judge her aura control.

Also, unlike Itachi's part there was only one level. Everything she had.

Building up aura in her arms and legs she started with a series of punches and kicks. Kisame blocked each with his hands smirking all the while. "Watching earlier I thought you were improving, but it appears I was wrong. I was expecting to at least feel these hits." He taunted.

She knew he was taunting her, but that didn't lessen her annoyance any. Channeling even more aura into her arms she started doing what Itachi called compacting it since she was compacting more aura into one part of her body to hit or kick harder. It also tended to increase the speed of the attack which helped with the force of the hit.

She started punching and kicking again aiming for his 'big annoying face' and putting all she could into the barrage. Kisame started taking a few hits but was still smiling. "Come on I thought people tended to perform better if their crush is in the audience." He taunted once again knowing that one probably hit harder than the other.

'Pardon?' Itachi thought.

If looks could kill. Ruby let out a short 'Ahh!' while channeling even more aura and letting lose on the man in front of her. 'How dare he say that out loud!' She mentally screamed, and then… rose petals started coming off of her arms as she punched over and over again.

Itachi and Kisame noticed the change, but Ruby hadn't seemed to notice yet due to her frenzied attacks.

'I never thought her semblance could be applied to individual parts of her body.' Itachi thought while Kisame grinned. The punches were coming faster and hitting much harder. 'This is so much better than it was not even seconds ago.'

Catching both of her fists Kisame stopped the onslaught. Or that was the plan, but she jumped up and headbutted him with a few rose petals appearing around her head. "Calm down red we're done for now." Kisame said shaking the girl slightly.

Calming back down she glared at the shark-like grin on Kisame's face. "Did I say something you didn't like?" He asked with a smirk.

"Hmph." Ruby said? Turning her head away trying to hide the small blush on her face.

"Very impressive Ruby." Itachi said walking over and getting a confused look form said girl.

"What was impressive?" She asked.

"You were able to channel your semblance into a single part of your body, so you powered up your attacks with your semblance." He said making her open her mouth.

"I did?" She asked before looking around and catching a glimpse of one of the last fading petals.

"Yes, you did but seeing as how you didn't notice I'd say you were distracted by something else. Speaking of did you have something you wanted to tell me?" He asked.

"Nope nothing at all." She said making an 'X' with her arms. 'At least nothing right now.' She thought looking away.

"Mhmm." Itachi said before looking at Kisame for a moment. "If that's the case then shall we move on to the next part, or are you too tired after using your semblance that much?" Itachi asked, his attention back on the cloaked girl.

"We can keep going… I haven't used my semblance… that much…" She said growing quieter before falling forwards. Luckily Itachi caught her.

"I had a feeling." He said aloud. Her aura was very low after everything they had done, so this was probably aura exhaustion. It doesn't usually happen to the point of passing out, but she put a lot into it today.

"Kisame if you would, help me get her on my back. I don't want her to fall off." He said.

"Right." Kisame said still grinning.

Once she was on his back, she unconsciously wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his shoulder.

With Itachi's hands full Kisame picked up all the bags and the duo began walking back.

"You amaze me sometimes." Itachi said to his partner.

"How so?" Kisame asked his grin never faltering.

"There are some buttons even I wouldn't push, but you went and pushed all of them." He said with a small chuckle.

"It wouldn't have meant anything if it wasn't true you know." The swordsman said.

"You're probably right, but its been a very long time since I've thought about anything related to romance or affection." The Uchiha said.

"Oh really? Was it before we met?" Kisame asked curiously.

"Before the massacre. She was the first one I killed…" He answered.

"I didn't know the person too well, but the last one I was interested in, or at the very least seemed interested in me, was one of the ones I was ordered to kill on a mission, so I have an inkling of an idea of what it was like." The sharkish man admitted.

It was strange for the ninjas. They were never very open about their respective pasts, but with each thing they learn, they realize they're more alike than they had thought.

"What'll you do about it then?" Kisame asked nodding towards the sleeping Ruby.

"I will see what she does. I was never very experienced when it came to women. I tended to ignore most of them back in the academy, and after that I was always surrounded by people older than myself, so I haven't been in this situation before." He said calmly.

"I see. It's interesting… being in some far-off world isn't it? Back then we were both wanted men everywhere we went, and yet here we've been allowed just about anywhere without having to worry about being randomly attacked by people, well aside from that Tyrian person." Kisame mused.

"It is definitely something I never pictured happening." Itachi admitted as they reached the city.

"We should probably get her back to Beacon, so her hothead of a sister doesn't tear up the town looking for her." The mist ninja joked as they walked to the bullhead port. It wasn't their preferred way of going to Beacon since there were cameras and security everywhere, but with an unconscious Ruby it was probably the quickest and safest way to get her back.

Without causing too much of a scene the duo boarded the ship with the still sleeping Ruby on Itachi's back.

 **A/N: Well isn't this fun. I hope you guys enjoyed. I may be moving fast on some aspects of the story like you all said, but that doesn't mean I won't be taking one step at a time.**

 **I suppose it's review time.**

 **First up Zaralann what the fuck did Raven do to you? I don't know how or when they'll meet her, so for now I'm not promising anything.**

 **Max Moreno No they didn't capture Watts. I'd assume she's pissed, but you'll probably find out more in the next chapter, and I have no idea what you're asking me for on that Omake. I've never written one before either so I don't know what the point of those are.**

 **Aergaia, how do you think she'll do after reading this chapter? I'd say things are looking up at least slightly.**

 **G I'm working on it.**

 **Razmire, How will the people of Remnant react to any of their abilities and jutsu? But Merging with Samehada is definitely Kisame's strangest one appearance wise.**

 **Now that part is done, I'm curious. What do you all think of Ruby's little crush? Only asking out of pure curiosity.**

 **As always thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 10

"You know there are a lot more people here than I thought there would be at this time of day." Kisame muttered looking around.

"It _is_ the weekend, so a crowd shouldn't be all that surprising." Itachi answered.

They were getting a few strange looks from some of the other passengers, whether it was from the sleeping girl on Itachi's back or their apparel was debatable.

"Should we go ahead and talk to the old man while we're here?" Kisame asked.

"It would be convenient." His partner admitted. "Whether we like it or not we've joined in this war of theirs, so we need to know all the other parties."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend then." Kisame said with his trademark grin.

Itachi just nodded.

 _Ozpin's Office_

Professor Ozpin was sitting at his desk like he usually did looking over some different reports strewn across the desk.

'Qrow leaves for Ardent with the man called Kisame. The village is destroyed, townspeople slaughtered, and one of Salem's people, pawn or higher rank yet to be decided, attacked the two, specifically Kisame. After the battle Qrow said the scorpion faunas told them that everything was a set up. Now we have dead pilots and a missing board member of the HA… That was all last week… I haven't the slightest clue what'll happen this week.' Ozpin thought with a frown before his scroll went off. After a quick check he saw Glynda's contact. 'Odd.' "Yes Glynda, what can I do for you?"

"Those two you've been worrying about are coming to Beacon." She said calmly.

"How do you know that?"

"They're on one of the transport ships heading in from Vale, and it looks like they have Ms. Rose with them." She answered.

"I see well do your best to keep an eye on them." He said before hanging up. 'I wonder what they're here for this time.'

 _With Kisame, Itachi, and Ruby_

"Kisame could you try waking her I'm not positive where her room is." Itachi said to his partner.

Kisame grinned and took out one of the extra water bottles they didn't use. Before he realized what happened Itachi felt water on his back and Ruby flipping out.

After sputtering for a second Ruby realized where she was then glared at Kisame. "Kisameeeee what was that for?" She whined.

"Itachi wanted you to help us find your room, and you needed to be awake for that." He answered with a grin.

"That may be so, but why did we need to get wet because of it?" Itachi asked briefly entertaining the idea of taking off his cloak.

"You wanted her awake you didn't say how."

"Moving on." Itachi said getting an annoyed 'Hey' from the soaking Ruby. "We should get you to your room so that you can get into something dry, but if you don't need us now that you're awake then we might pay a visit to the headmaster."

"I thought you didn't like Professor Ozpin?" Ruby asked confused.

"I harbor no ill feelings towards him I just don't trust the man." The Uchiha said.

"I don't like most people in general." Kisame said with a shrug.

"Well I'm still kinda beat from earlier so if it wouldn't be too much trouble…" Ruby said growing quieter.

"Lead the way then." Itachi said making the girl smile.

Without saying anything else the group quickly made their way to the RWBY dorm. Ruby wanted to change into dry clothes as soon as possible, so she immediately entered her team's room leaving Itachi and Kisame outside in the hall.

"Should we go ahead and speak to the headmaster?" The Uchiha asked his partner.

"I have a feeling she wants us to wait for a moment." Kisame answered.

Suddenly they heard Ruby's voice telling them to come in.

Surveying the room quickly Kisame and Itachi took in what seemed to be an… odd set of bunkbeds.

"How much do you wanna bet that the hanging one is Red's?"

"It wouldn't be much of a bet if we both think it's hers." Itachi answered.

The next thing they noticed was the room was empty aside from the two ninjas, since Ruby was in what they assumed was the bathroom.

"Her teammates must be off doing other things." Itachi mused before giving in and taking off his cloak and sealing it in the scroll that held their straw hats. He was in his regular gray clothes with his pouch of ninja tools on his hip. Finally, he put Shingetsu back across his back. It was around this time that Ruby walked out of the bathroom wearing a red tank top and a pair of black sweatpants that probably hid the training weights they had been using underneath.

When she looked at the two, she stopped at Itachi for a moment. "… I don't think I've ever seen you without your cloak before. Or Kisame for that matter." She said before shaking her head.

"I suppose we do wear them most of the time." Itachi admitted getting a nod from Kisame.

"Is he what you expected him to look like under the cloak Red, or were you expecting something different?" Kisame asked with a grin.

Ruby shook her head. "No this is about what I expected. With how quick he can be it wouldn't make sense for him to be super buff or fat." She said before realizing what she said. "Not that there's anything wrong with buff or fat people or anything!" She added quickly.

"You'd be surprised Ruby. Even larger opponents can move extremely quickly." Itachi said before changing tune. "Where is the rest of your team?"

Ruby just looked around before checking her scroll and shrugging. "I don't know for sure, but if I had to make a few guesses then I'd say that Blake is reading somewhere, Weiss might be studying in the library, and Yang is probably at the gym." She guessed.

The door behind them opened to reveal Blake. "Oh Ruby you're back… and you brought your friends." She said directing her attention to the Akatsuki duo.

"Blake." Itachi said with a small nod. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise." She said before looking back towards her leader. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but why'd they come back with you this time?"

"Oh…" Ruby said scratching the back of her head and blushing a little. "Well today's training took a bit more out of me than usual and I… passed out from aura depletion."

Blake's eyes widened slightly. "Are you alright? You shouldn't be pushing yourself to the point of dropping like that." She admonished.

"Yeah I'm fine just a bit tired and sore, and I've always pushed myself." Ruby responded. "Not always to the point of collapse, but just ask Yang I've always been a tad… extreme when it comes to my training." She finished getting curious looks from the other three in the room. "What?"

Kisame and Itachi shared a look before they turned back towards her. "Nothing it just explains a lot." Kisame said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"You took to our training that most would consider… harsh… quite well." Itachi answered watching both girls from RWBY.

"I'm not sure if I should be concerned by _you_ guys calling the training harsh or the fact that Ruby is taking to it so well." Blake admitted tiredly. Ruby's constant disappearances had been leaving their blonde teammate irritable as of late, so skirting around the remainder of her team had been tiresome.

"Well you know I just want to get better." Ruby said scratching the back of her head.

"That's an admirable goal, but why is it you want to get better?" Itachi asked.

"Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to help people, and to do that and stay alive while doing it I need to be good. Like really good." She answered.

"I see." Itachi said before Kisame spoke up.

"We should probably head on to the headmaster's office."

"Right." Itachi said with a nod. "You should rest Ruby, you pushed yourself quite hard today."

"Alright Itachi. See you guys later." She said slowly going towards her suspended bunk.

With that the duo left Blake and Ruby alone in their room.

"Ruby… how exactly do those two train you? It takes a lot to make someone pass out from aura exhaustion." Blake said looking to her leader as she gingerly climbed up into her bunk.

"I've told you guys before it's mainly hand-to-hand combat. And sometimes it's stuff with Crescent Rose." She answered.

"And you're sure you're okay?" Blake asked again.

"Yes, I'm fine, seriously."

"If you say so." Blake said before glancing back at the door. "You know Yang has been… irritable since you've started training with them."

Ruby sighed from atop her bunk. "I know… she hasn't always supported the way I train, and this time she's even worse since Itachi and Kisame are involved."

"How do you think she would've reacted had she come in to find the three of you alone in here?" The cat faunas asked.

Ruby contemplated for a moment before cringing. "She wouldn't have taken it well and probably jumped to a conclusion." She answered.

Blake nodded in silent thought. Ever since the training had started Ruby seemed more mature when it came to situations like this. She wasn't sure what exactly the reason was, but she suspected Itachi might've been rubbing off on her. Out of the two he was definitely the calmer one. "I'd be careful about that in the future." She suggested.

"I'll keep it in mind next time I'm brought back unconscious." Ruby said sarcastically.

'Did she just…?' "You being sarcastic… what has the world come to?" She asked the universe.

"Hey, you have no room to talk about sarcasm." The reaper said.

"I'll admit it almost made me smile." Blake said with a small grin.

Ruby smiled to herself. "Like the one on your face right now?"

Blake didn't say anything. She just sat in her bed and went back to reading.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"What do you think he'll say?" Kisame asked as they rode up the elevator.

"He'll either help us or we'll have to resort to plan b." His partner said simply.

"Do you think he'll comment on your lack of cloak? We're drawing more attention than usual."

"It's possible, but I wouldn't have thought the lack of a cloak would draw _more_ attention perhaps it is something else." He said.

 _Ding_

"Well why don't we get all our questions answered." Kisame said walking out first.

When they reached the door to the headmaster's office it opened automatically.

"Come in." Ozpin called.

"Professor Ozpin it's nice to see you again." Itachi said as they walked in.

"Quite." Ozpin said before looking between the two of them. "To what do I owe the unexpected pleasure? You two don't usually show up on camera when coming to my school."

"We needed to take little red back to her room, and we wanted to speak with you anyways, so it was convenient." Kisame answered.

"And what exactly did you want to talk about? I can only assume it's about the man who attacked you the other day."

"In a sense yes, but we don't particularly care who he was. We want to know more about the person who sent him. We feel like you might be able to shed some light on this situation." Itachi said.

"What leads you to believe I know anything?" The headmaster asked bridging his hands.

"Qrow mentioned that he'd be reporting everything that happened in that town to you, and he seemed to recognize the name Salem." Kisame responded simply.

"I suppose you'd be right in that sense… I am curious as to how you both have caught her eye and more importantly her ire." He said.

"You could say we've come across one of her… people and left them incapacitated." Itachi answered with a pause. 'Hiding something as small as that wouldn't be worth any additional suspicions, but I suppose that description will leave him suspicious as well… Sometimes I miss the simplicity of the elemental nations.' He thought dryly.

"Who was it and how did you manage to run into them?" Ozpin asked with more seriousness.

"Calm down a bit old man we came here to talk and ask you some questions not get interrogated." Kisame said. His grin belying any sense of annoyance he may've been feeling.

"He's right I'm sure you have lots of questions for us, but the sooner we finish this the sooner all of us move on from this encounter." Itachi added.

"I apologize, but you must understand it is my responsibility to keep things in order. The simple fact that you two appeared out of nowhere, are powerful unknowns, and know about Salem has put me on edge."

"That's actually why we're here." Itachi said getting back on point. "The problem is we don't know very much about Salem at all. We came here to see if you knew anything about her that could help us."

"Help you do what exactly?" Oz asked skeptically.

"We need to find her." Itachi answered again.

"As much as I love beating around the bush just please come out and say it. What do you plan to do to or with Salem?" The headmaster asked with a sigh.

Itachi and Kisame shared a look for the briefest of moments before turning back to the tired-looking headmaster. "The goal right now is to kill Salem or at least remove her from the picture." Kisame said.

Ozpin's eyes widened at this before shaking his head and standing from his desk. For the first time since they entered the room Ozpin took his eyes away from the shinobi and looked out the window behind his desk. "I'm afraid that is impossible… you already know of her, so you'll find out eventually… but Salem is immortal." Turning back to the duo he looked at each of them. "You both have talent and skill to quite frankly do whatever you so please, so just forget about Salem and move on with your lives. She can't be killed I've tried plenty of times." He finished somberly.

"What kind of immortal?" Kisame asked getting a confused look from the headmaster.

"What my partner means is what have you done to kill her and how does she continue to survive?" Itachi clarified.

Ozpin was silent for a minute before answering the two. "Anything from physical weapons to aura and semblance related techniques it doesn't matter. When her body would die of a fatal wound, she merely comes back completely fine and healthy. I have no way or knowledge of a way to kill her."

"I was originally thinking the pair of zombies, but this is starting to sound annoyingly like Orochimaru again." Kisame muttered.

"That man continues to give us headaches even as an analogy." Itachi added. 'If her body can't be fatally wounded then that makes things more difficult, but if it's her mind that is trapped…'

Ozpin was starting to realize that any time he's in a room with these two he's consistently in the dark as to what's going through their heads. It was annoying to say the least. "With everything I've said, which under normal circumstances I'd never talk about, will you both give up this quest of yours? I know the both of you are close to young miss Rose and are even taking time to train her. You both could do so much good in the world, so don't run straight to your deaths… please."

"You know Kisame." Itachi started getting everyone's attention. "I think my initial comparison was wrong. Danzo just doesn't fit quite right."

"Hmm then who?" The shark asked.

"I'm not quite sure… I suppose I'll have to think about that at a later time." Itachi said closing his eyes momentarily. "Professor Ozpin. I just have one more question on this subject for now."

"Go ahead and ask." Ozpin said taking a sip of coffee from his fabled mug.

"Is Salem human or something else?"

"Originally she was human, but as time passed, she's grown to be more Grimm than anything else." Ozpin answered with a frown.

"I suppose I can work with that." Itachi said getting an odd look from the headmaster.

"You do remember I said she can't be killed correct?"

"You're thinking about this too narrowly." Kisame said with his usual grin. "The how is up to us to figure out, but all we really need to do is remove her from the picture. Death or not isn't the biggest deal."

"Before we start another round of questions on the how and why I think we should wrap this topic up for today." The Uchiha said getting looks from the others in the room. "Headmaster despite our initial grievances I believe an alliance between us would be beneficial." 'For the time being.' He added in thought.

"Why now?" Ozpin asked.

"We have a common enemy. A large step towards our end goal is to rid the world of this game of shadows you both have been playing. With that in mind if Salem were to be dealt with then that war should be over." 'Although someone may continue her work in her absence, which would add another complication.'

"What is your end goal exactly?" Ozpin asked with a small amount of hope. He had been wanting to figure out what made the two tick since the moment they declined his offer to join Beacon.

Itachi and Kisame shared yet another look. "For now, that will remain between us." Kisame started. "Perhaps in time we will tell you, but as it stands, we are leaving a lot of things unasked between both parties, but right now everything we've discussed today is enough."

"Does this mean we will have more meetings like this?" Ozpin asked. "Hopefully meetings that I'll be able to ask more of my own questions during?"

"Only time will tell." Itachi said before looking out at the setting sun. "We will be in contact headmaster, and you may see us around Beacon every once in a while, when need be, but like before you can operate your school and your people how you wish, and we will do the same."

"When we first met you spoke of trust and deceit. After learning part of what's going on what do you think? Could _you_ tell young hopefuls that ultimately most of their work won't amount to anything in the face of the Grimm hordes?"

Itachi and Kisame shared a look. "Speaking of your young hopefuls, there was one more thing we wanted to discuss with you." 'The Professor…'

 _The Next Day_

 _With Team RWBY_

Team RWBY was going about their normal routine. Yang was her happy go lucky self when Ruby was around. Ruby was still slightly sore from the day before, so she wasn't as bouncy as normal. Blake and Weiss were doing what they usually did. Weiss was occasionally nagging and scolding Ruby while Blake read one of her books. Most of the day had been normal, and now they were heading to Professor Goodwitch's class Ruby and Yang's personal favorite.

When they walked in, they found a majority of the class already waiting inside. Ruby noticed the professor was standing in the middle of the arena likely waiting for everyone, but behind her and off to the side she noticed the headmaster was also in the room.

'What's the headmaster doing here?' Ruby asked herself as she and her team found their seats.

Once the entire class was in attendance, Goodwitch spoke up. "Good afternoon class. Over the past few weeks you all have experienced random and challenge matches using tournament standards. Today we will be doing something slightly different." She said causing some of the students to murmur. "Today will be focused on fighting with a handicap." She added quieting the room. "Each pair will have a handicap placed upon them and both opponents must then fight around whatever the handicap may be. Any questions?" She asked. Seeing a few hands pop up she took a page from Ozpin's book. "Good. Now we will be using the randomization process for both opponents and the handicaps." She added bringing up the screen. "First up we have… Yang Xiao Long. Her opponent will be… Ruby Rose."

Ruby's eyes widened slightly at the match-up and started thinking of all the possible handicaps that would make this even more difficult.

"Your handicap will be no weapons."

Ruby almost fainted. 'There is no way this just randomly happened.' She thought as she looked past Goodwitch and towards the headmaster, but he wasn't looking at her. Following his line of sight, she looked towards the top back of the stadium-like seats. It was dark, but she saw two red eyes shining through the darkness. 'Oh my Oum they're here.' Ruby thought with a mix of feelings. She was happy, nervous, annoyed, nervous, excited, nervous, and worried. Oh and she was nervous.

'Calm down Ruby you'll be fine.' Itachi's voice came into her mind. 'Also Kisame said to hurry up you're wasting the entire class's time.'

Ruby came back to the real world and looked around to see everyone looking towards her and Goodwitch tapping her foot impatiently.

"Sometime today Miss Rose?"

"Right sorry I zoned out there." She said as she quickly hopped down to the arena floor landing with a thud. Across from her Yang was waiting there with a grin on her face.

'I feel bad for her with the handicap on this one, but this'll be a good opportunity to open her eyes a bit.' Yang thought to herself as she got ready. Though to her slight surprise Ruby adopted a stance she had never seen before, and for some reason had an eye closed.

'You'll do fine Ruby. She won't be expecting this to be any different than any other time you've fought without your weapon, so… give her a nice surprise.' Itachi thought with his own miniscule smile.

Opening the eye that had been closed she waited for the match to start.

'If I can surprise her enough, I should be able to get the upper hand.' She thought as the timer ticked down. When it hit zero Yang just stood there waiting. Ruby on the other hand opted to slowly circle her sister.

'No proverbial chinks as usual. She's been training almost as much as I have recently.' Ruby thought before shrugging to herself. Only really one thing to do at that point. Activating her aura, she ran at Yang who was still waiting with a grin. When she got close Yang threw a quick right jab at Ruby's head. Weaving her head to the side she avoided the jab and compacted some aura into her left hand before sending it into her sister's gut. Yang was pushed back a bit, but quickly went against the motion and shoulder tackled her sister across the ground.

'That was actually a decent punch.' She thought with a grin. 'This might be fun.' "That the best you got Rubes? Seems that training hasn't really payed off has it?" She taunted.

Ruby didn't respond and instead got back up and tuned out her sister's annoying taunting. Next thing anyone knew she was a blur of rose petals darting around the arena. Yang was doing her best to keep up, but Ruby had always had speed others would dream of. If only she really knew. Before she could react, she felt the back of her knee get hit making her kneel. She brought up her guard just in time to block Ruby as she flew feet first at Yang's head. It seemed the Rose was trying to knock her down. Yang pushed Ruby away and decided it was her turn. Running toward her sister she started throwing jabs and hooks left and right. Ruby avoided a few but took a big right hook to the head knocking her down.

Ruby looked up letting her vision refocus. Yang had paused her assault to let her sister get back up or to see if Goodwitch would call the match. 'What can I do?' She thought to herself. 'With these damn weights I'm too slow, and that last attack hurt on the aura levels. I wonder…' Slowly turning her head to where she had seen Itachi's eyes she met his gaze and the eyes slowly went up and down. 'That was probably a nod.' She thought as she quickly took the weights off surprising quite a few people in the arena.

'So they've been working with training weights to increase her speed, strength, and endurance.' Ozpin thought from his position.

"A couple pounds won't change anything sis." Yang called out.

'Do it red toss them on the ground. The look on blondie's face will be priceless.' Kisame thought from his own seat with an ever-growing grin.

Unfortunately for Kisame, she didn't throw the weights and instead placed them in a pile on the ground before jumping up and down a few times. "Alright Yang you want to see what I've been working on, well here it is." She said before disappearing.

The only ones not surprised by this were the two ninja and the headmaster. Before she could blink let alone process what just happened Yang was knocked through the air from… something. Without letting her touch the ground Ruby appeared where Yang was going to land and squatted low before kicking Yang straight up. Yang looked around wildly to find where her sister had gone. A second later she felt Ruby grab onto her jacket, and she found herself going higher and faster into the air before the feeling did a 180. Ruby used all the strength she could muster and launched Yang towards the ground. A second later she hit the ground, hard, and was seen laying in the center of a small crater.

Yang could feel every bit of that impact as she slowly got up. Her hair alight with the power and fury of her semblance. Red eyes found the heavy breathing Ruby who had been standing a few feet away with her hands on her knees.

Ruby saw Yang get up and knew this probably wouldn't end well. 'I'm still too drained from yesterday.' She thought with a frown as she got ready to defend herself.

"The offence is getting good." Kisame praised to his partner who nodded. "But we haven't done evasion training in a bit."

"You tend to get carried away on that one, so we have to be careful of _where_ we are training." Itachi responded as he watched. "She did well she should be proud."

Ruby down below was doing her best to avoid Yang's attacks but was constantly backpedaling. Suddenly she stumbled and that was the moment Yang needed to capitalize. With a semblance-fueled right hook she knocked Ruby out and tumbling across the arena. That's when the buzzer sounded.

"Well done Miss Xiao Long but do be careful not to overdo it in the future." Goodwitch said making Yang look up to the aura monitor and what she saw made her go pale. Her aura was fine in the lower twenties. The knockout range was fifteen. Ruby's aura guage showed four. Quickly looking to the unconscious form of her sister she ran over and picked her up. Without saying anything else or listening to whatever Goodwitch was saying she rushed off to the infirmary.

 _A few hours later_

Ruby's head hurt. Like. A lot. "Ugh what'd I do?" She mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw were lilac colored eyes staring at her with barely contained hope.

"Ruby! Are you feeling alright?!" She asked quickly as she gripped her sister's hand.

"I feel like I jumped off Beacon Cliff and landed headfirst." She said putting her free hand to her forehead. After a minute or two the pain dulled with the help of her aura and she was able to focus on the rest of the room. Specifically, two very familiar people wearing matching cloaks. "Hey Itachi, Kisame." She said with a small wave. Looking back to Yang she realized the time. "Where are Weiss and Blake?"

"They left a bit before you woke up to go get dinner for everyone." Yang answered.

"Ah." Ruby said before sighing. "I was so close to beating you."

"That was a hell of a fight." Yang admitted. "Sorry if I got a little carried away at the end there, I didn't mean to… you know…" She said looking down.

Ruby just tapped her sister's forehead like a certain Uchiha does.

"Hey what was that for?" Yang asked looking up.

Itachi from where he was sitting wore an amused smile.

Ruby hugged Yang. "It was a sparring match you would've done that to anyone else it's fine. Besides it isn't like this hasn't happened before. Remember when you tried to see if we had the same semblance?" She asked with a laugh.

Yang backed away slightly and started to animatedly defend herself. "Hey we were kids! I just wanted to check and see if you had a power as badass as mine!" She defended. "Happens one time and I never hear the end of it

"I'm just messing with you." Ruby said laughing before she looked at Itachi and Kisame again. "Yang could you please give us a minute?"

"Alright I'll be just outside." Yang said surprising Ruby.

"Wait you aren't going to stubbornly refuse like you usually do?" She asked shocked. Who was the girl in front of her and how long had she been asleep?

"While we were waiting, we… reached an understanding." Yang said with a grin before leaving the room.

"What did you guys do to get her to do that?" Ruby asked the remaining two in the room.

"Maybe we'll tell you about it later." Itachi said before the two stood up and moved closer. "You wanted us alone, so let's hear it."

"I'm sorry." Ruby said in defeat. Even with all the help you've given me with training and just everything, I still couldn't beat Yang. I failed you both." She said as her voice started to crack. "I even made you both step in to make the fight happen because I was too scared! I'm so sorry." She finished with tears running down her cheeks.

"Calm down Ruby." Itachi said tapping her forehead. "You haven't failed us at all." He said getting a confused look from the teary-eyed girl.

"You've been training at hand-to-hand for a few weeks while your sister has been training exclusively in hand-to-hand combat for years. The point of the fight wasn't to win, but to prove yourself. And I think you've done well." Kisame said with a grin that was slightly less shark-like than normal.

"Really?" She asked looking between the two of them.

"You did very well Ruby." Itachi said with a smile. "We will need to add more defensive techniques to your training, but that's a thought for later. For now, rest eat with your team we'll be on our way for the night."

"If it isn't too much trouble would you be willing to stay and eat with us?" Ruby asked sheepishly.

Sharing another of their soon to be famous looks Itachi nodded. "If you wish."

 **A/N: Yes as I'm sure you all have just found out I'm not dead. In my last story's A/N I said the next chapter shouldn't take as long and it actually took longer to get out. Whoops. Really though it's just been a tough and busy semester. I apologize for how long it took, but realistically if my schedule hadn't changed due to some unfortunate circumstances then this wouldn't have been finished until at least the end of next week.**

 **All that said I hope you enjoyed. This chapter was going to have a bit of an excerpt from Salem to see how she's doing, but I decided to wait on that for a bit for reasons.**

 **Anywho moving on... oh right so last time it seems I started a miniature shipping war in my comment section. I'll be honest I found the entire thing amazingly funny. Like I've said in past chapters I don't plan things like romances they just happen in the writing. Will Itachi and Ruby happen? I don't know that's up to the future me to decide, but for now it's been fun just listening to everyone giving their own response to that particular ship.**

 **It was interesting to see the readers who left reviews were about 50/50 as far as the thing goes which I thought was funny.**

 **Let's see the rest... no they were almost all about the crush. Oh well you all brought up good points and counter-points to each other, and I saw quite a few people trying to find Kisame a lover too. The one that surprised me a bit was someone pairing Kisame with Glynda. This surprised me because it's actually something I'd thought of at one point or another. I mean just imagine those two interacting. It'd be glorious.**

 **Anyways yea hope you all enjoyed. Thanks to everyone who reviews and follows and favorites.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I own nothing like usual**

Chapter 11

"Do you think it's true?"

"What?"

"The rumors going around the base?"

"What!? Of course not. Our leader would never do something like that."

"I thought so too, but he's been acting different recently. I mean we haven't made a move in a while."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too… but even so, he wouldn't actually think of going through with it."

"I don't know remember the last one? And we got shafted on that deal. Just think about this "better" deal."

"Hey quiet down he's coming!"

Adam Taurus was walking through one of the Fang's main bases around Vale. He had heard the whisperings among some of his men, but it wasn't the first time he'd heard things like that, and as of recently he hadn't been too attentive of unimportant gossip around the base. Over the past few weeks he had been thinking of every possible answer to that human's question, and their impact and success rate.

" _Tell me… is this current path the only one you can see?"_

In the time after that meeting the White Fang had almost completely stopped any public activities, planned or otherwise.

Once he reached the door to his personal room he quickly stepped inside and slammed the door behind him.

"Gah! Why can't I think of anything?!" Adam yelled to himself. "Even the violent actions we've taken don't make sense in my head anymore!" 'If winning a full race on race war wasn't enough to garner equality for the Faunus then how the fuck will the things we're doing help?' He asked himself as he fell back onto his bed. Despite his mistrust towards those damned partners, he looked over to the scroll sitting on the nightstand next to his bed. 'Could they really have an answer?'

"Sir!" Came a voice from outside his door.

With a sigh Adam sat up and looked at the scroll one more time before pocketing it and grabbing Wilt and Blush. When he opened the door, he saw the mask of his Lieutenant. Like Adam the lieutenant usually always kept his mask on even inside the base. He may've had reasons like Adam, but the superior couldn't say. Their individual pasts weren't spoken about often if at all.

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"Our brothers and sisters have been growing restless with the Fang's lack of action recently, and one of our spies have found out there's a large shipment of Schnee dust being delivered to shipyard five tonight. I've gotten everything ready for the attack we just need the all clear from you." He said in his usual ambitious tone. "With our recent drop in activity the guard detail has been lightened, so this is the perfect time to raid them."

Adam had always noticed the lieutenant's ambitious attitude when he did things like this, preparing for a raid or attack 'without' Adam's knowledge. More often than not the bull would usually hear wind of things like this and make sure preparations were done well, and just let the bear think he did it all on his own, but this time he hadn't.

'I've been too distracted recently… while it would be a good political blow towards the Schnees if done correctly, we don't need the dust, and I think the restlessness he mentioned will make them sloppy. That could lead to failure of the mission along with casualties of our own troops.' He reasoned to himself. 'I also haven't checked any of the preparations he's done… The troops need to satiate their energy yes, but it'd be better to do it on a smaller project.' "I can't allow that to happen." He said shocking the lieutenant. "I will not greenlight this mission. Your orders are to stand down and wait for another opportunity."

"But sir-!?" The lieutenant yelled only to get cut off by a raised hand and chilling glare.

"I've given my orders lieutenant. This is too dangerous a mission to take on right now, so I'm calling off the attack." Adam said with finality before turning and walking down the corridor. He needed some fresh air.

The lieutenant stood there in silence, his hands trembling with rage. 'Why Adam!? In the past we would never miss a chance like this!' He seethed before it all came to a stop with a realization. "So that's how it is." He whispered to himself before turning the other way and walking. He had a raid to prepare for.

 _Back with Adam_

After exiting the base Adam snagged a long coat with a hood to cover his usual attire. He was a wanted man after all.

After walking for a time, he found himself in the area of Vale he hated the most, yet always felt the most comfortable in.

The slums of Vale held the highest population of Faunus in the city, so he was surrounded by his fellow kin, but everywhere he looked he saw the same things. Thin malnourished Faunus of all ages, kids running around or hiding in corners with nothing covering them aside from old scraps of clothing, humans walking around making his brethren miserable for pure sick enjoyment. Speaking of humans making problems he caught a man's hand as he was about to strike a woman covering her child.

"Hey! Why don't you back off and scram you animal-lover! That little piece of trash tried to steal my wallet, and he needs to be punished." The irate man yelled glaring at the trembling mother and child.

Adam's grip just tightened around the man's wrist making him look up again. From under the hood he could see part of the mask the bull was wearing.

"Oh shit the Fang!" The man yelled yanking his arm away and running away from the Faunus.

While he could've chased the man easily Adam decided to look to the people he had just helped.

"White Fang?" The woman asked shakily spreading her arms to keep the terrorist away from her son. "Stay away! We don't want anything to do with your lot!" She screamed backing away slowly before turning around and running with the child in her arms.

He just watched them go with a clench of his fist. "What are we even doing at this point?" He whispered. 'Even our fellow Faunus reject us. At first, I believed that they were wrong, that they were weak, but that's just it. They just want to live their life… even if it is the life of the oppressed.'

With that last thought he turned from where the woman had been and continued walking.

 _With Ruby_

Beacon went on as it usually did. Students went to classes, teachers taught, and students from other schools had begun to show up. All that said our dear friend Ruby only had one thing to say about what was going on. Boring.

'I know I should be excited about meeting new teams and stuff, but it all just seems so dull without them here.' Ruby thought as she and her team walked through downtown Vale heading towards the docks.

About a week ago Itachi and Kisame had mentioned leaving Vale for a while to do their secret spy-ey stuff, and that left Ruby alone with her training. Yang had tried to help but didn't really understand what they had been trying to teach her, so Ruby had just been doing her regular practices with everything from hand-to-hand to target practice and repetitions with her baby.

'I miss them… It's not just Itachi either, I miss Kisame's big stupid grin, the snide and teasing remarks he'd sometimes throw at me, and even the arrogance and confidence in his voice.' Ruby thought to herself completely zoned out.

That's why the heiress looked annoyed at her when the group had apparently stopped with Ruby walking right into her partner.

"Ruby please do me a favor and watch where you're going." Weiss said through slightly clenched teeth.

"Sorry Weiss guess I kinda zoned out." Ruby said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Just don't let it happen again." The heiress said before turning back around and smiling towards the docks.

"You've been zoning out a lot lately. Are you alright Ruby?" Blake asked quietly.

"Yea I've just been thinking about them a lot." Ruby admitted. Another thing she had noticed was she and Blake had grown closer as of late. While she'd never say it aloud around either of them, Ruby saw quite a few similarities between Itachi and Blake.

"Don't tell me you're worried about them of all people?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. While they may not be the strongest people in the world from what she'd seen during their spar, they'd probably be fine doing whatever it was they were doing.

"No of course not. I know they can handle most anything out there, but I just miss them you know?"

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on one of them?" Blake asked before her eyes widened. "Ruby I never thought it possible, but do you really think you could handle both of them?" Blake asked in feigned realization.

"Ugh! BLAKE NO! Eww eww eww." Ruby said holding her hands to her ears and trying to hide her embarrassed blush. "That's just… how…? No just no…" Ruby said trying to reboot her brain to functional levels.

Blake on the other hand was trying her best to keep her giggling under control and failing miserably.

Meanwhile Yang and Weiss had turned around at Ruby's squeal and the sound of their teammate's name.

"Do I wanna know what you two are talking about?" Yang asked preparing her "mama bear" attitude.

"No, I don't believe you'd want to do that at all." Weiss said shaking her head.

"Nope we weren't talking about anything over here were we Ruby?" Blake asked with the slightest crack of a smile.

"No most definitely not!" Ruby squeaked from her position.

"Mhmm." Yang hummed unconvinced before the entire group heard yelling.

"Hey get back here!" A police officer yelled while chasing a monkey Faunus.

"Calm down man it was just a banana peel." The Faunus said with a laugh as he continued running.

"I wonder what that was about." Yang said after they had passed by.

"Knowing he's a Faunus he probably stole something." Weiss said crossing her arms in disapproval.

Blake narrowed her eyes which didn't go unnoticed by the young reaper.

"That's pretty stereotypical of you Weiss." The secret cat Faunus grit out.

"Stereotypes tend to be based on true events. Just look at groups like the White Fang." She said looking back towards Blake.

"The White Fang are an extreme." Blake said making Weiss raise an eyebrow. "Just like Cardin is an extreme."

"An extreme bully is very different from an extreme terrorist organization." Weiss shot back.

"That isn't what she meant." Ruby said, making Weiss and Blake look at her.

"I think what she meant was the White Fang are an extreme as far as the kind of Faunus they are. I don't mean they're all evil or anything, but they are the ones stealing, attacking, and causing trouble, but that doesn't mean all the other Faunus on Remnant do those things. Just like how Cardin hates and degrades the Faunus. Not all humans share that opinion or do that." Ruby said causing all of her teammates to just stare at her. "What?"

"It's nothing… I just don't think we were expecting such an intelligent answer from you sis." Yang said getting an annoyed "Hey!" in response.

"She's right though." Blake said looking back to the heiress. "Not all Faunus are going to be thieves or part of a… terrorist group." Blake finished quietly.

"There may be some who are fine, but the Faunus people have never gotten along with my family, so forgive me if I'm not immediately looking for the good in them."

Blake didn't give a verbal response but nodded once. She didn't want to admit it, but she did the same thing to most humans she'd come across, usually in a more discreet manner, but that's beside the point.

Ruby continued to look at Blake but decided to talk to her later.

"By the way princess that might've been the only competition on that boat." Yang pointed out.

Weiss' eyes widened. "Quick we need to find him!" She yelled running off.

Ruby watched her partner running off. "Yang go ahead after her I want to talk to Blake about something." She said getting an odd look from both girls, but Yang listened regardless and chased after the heiress.

"What is it Ruby?" Blake asked.

"You were acting a little off right there." She said getting a small wince from the black-haired girl. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'd really rather not." Blake said looking away.

After a moment she felt a weight on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw the worry in Ruby's eyes.

"Blake just know that we're here for you. I'm here for you no matter what, and I don't mean as your leader I mean as your friend. Guy or girl, teammate or no, human or Faunus, you're my friend Blake and I'll stand by you." Ruby said with a small smile.

Blake smiled back. "Thank you Ruby… but do you really mean that?" She asked glancing around and not seeing anyone.

"Every word of it."

"Even if I used to be with a bad group?"

Ruby momentarily thought about Kisame and Itachi. 'It probably won't be as bad as some of the things they'd mentioned, so it should be fine.' "Yep." She said popping the 'p'.

Blake hesitated for a moment deciding if she was really thinking about telling Ruby about her secret.

"If I tell you can you promise not to tell another soul?" Blake asked seriously.

"Even Itachi and Kisame?" She asked surprising Blake.

'I thought she'd ask about Yang before either of them, but oh well.' "…unfortunately, they already found out my secret. At least part of it." Blake said before taking a deep breath and moving her hand to her bow.

Ruby just watched and waited.

With a mental nod to herself Blake pulled the bow loose to reveal two small cat ears. Ruby stared wide-eyed for a minute before shaking her head.

"Is that why you like fish so much?" Ruby asked only to get swatted in the head.

"Ruby this is serious!" Blake said looking around.

Ruby on the other hand just sighed before taking Blake's hand and walking to a nearby alley. "Blake-"

"No Ruby do you understand how big of a risk I'm taking right now?" Blake hissed while still scanning for anyone at all who might see her.

"Blake you're a Faunus what's so risky about that?" She asked.

"It's not just that I'm a Faunus it's the group I mentioned earlier."

"Do you mean the White… Fang…?" Ruby asked with a look of realization.

Blake just watched her friend for any kind of negative reaction, but after a moment Ruby just tilted her head.

"Are you still a member?"

"U-umm no I haven't been since I left a few months before joining Beacon."

"Aright then."

"Wait what?" Blake asked in confusion. "That's it? No running away, calling me a terrorist, or trying to turn me in?"

"No? You're my friend Blake and you aren't still with them, so what's the problem?" Ruby asked with her own look of confusion.

"What- I mean- how- why- Ugh why're you so okay with this?" Blake asked grasping at straws.

"If you aren't with them anymore then I'm guessing you don't approve of the things they've been doing, so now you're trying to become a huntress for one reason or another. Am I wrong?" She asked with another tilt of the head.

"Well no, but… I just thought you'd think badly of me when you found out I was hiding things from you. Especially things like that." Blake admitted looking to the ground.

"Weiss may think a bit worse of it than I do, but you aren't as bad as Kisame and Itachi can be, so Yang shouldn't care too much, and I wouldn't think bad of you for something like that. If you were still part of the White Fang then we might be having a slightly different conversation, but you said you aren't, and I trust you."

Blake just stood there speechless. She had pictured this scenario in her head a thousand times and it always ended badly, but now that it went well, she didn't know what to think.

"Thanks Ruby… for everything." Blake said with a small smile. "But can you please not tell the others? I'm still not ready for them to know yet."

"Alright, but don't wait too long. We're your team after all." She said as Blake retied her bow.

"I'll try not to."

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"Well that went about as well as expected." Kisame said.

"I believe we have different definitions of the word 'well'." Itachi said from beside his partner. The duo was walking along a path in the woods away from a now empty village. They had been given a mission of patrolling some of the outer limits of the Valean kingdom, so naturally they decided to explore the areas outside the kingdom's protection. They weren't very surprised by the things they saw.

The most recent village seemed to have been abandoned for a time and was full of Grimm. After a quick cleansing of the area the ninja continued on their way.

"Well we cleared everything out didn't we, and we were able to let loose a bit, so that was refreshing." The shark said with another grin.

"I suppose you aren't wrong." Itachi said with an amused smile. "Although I remember killing more of them than you did."

"No, I clearly remember taking out the alphas."

"While I killed all the rest. You killed four or five. I killed thirty-seven."

"What's better killing four or five Jounin or thirty Genin?"

"Fair point." Itachi conceded. They had been expanding their knowledge of surrounding areas as well as noting which towns were active and which weren't. They also had been probing the strength of their enemy's forces.

Beringels were a nice challenge in comparison to some of the other more common Grimm if only because of their strength and ferocity, but even so…

"Hey Itachi…" Kisame said.

"Hmm?"

"Want another round with these little monsters?" He asked with his shark-like grin.

"Do you really wish to waste our time again?" Itachi asked without looking to him.

None of the Grimm so far could compare to a tailed beast.

"Well we can't spar right now, and we aren't messing with red, so I'm a tad bored."

"Well if you'd like to make this go quicker then we can pick up the pace." Itachi suggested. It'd take too long if he just kept drawing more Grimm to their location.

"Finally, then let's get to the next place." The swordsman said taking to the trees. Itachi shook his head, but quickly followed. 'So much energy as usual.'

 _With Adam_

A few hours had passed, and Adam had just returned to the base. When he walked in, he came face to face with his main forces armed and ready to deploy.

"What is the meaning of this?" Adam called out drawing all attention to him. What he saw concerned him. Many of his members wouldn't meet his gaze, and those that did seemed tense and/or angry.

"We are getting ready for a raid against our enemy, the Schnees, that will help our people and cause." The lieutenant said hefting his chainsaw-sword onto his shoulder.

"I believe I instructed you to stand down." Adam said leveling his glare at the lieutenant.

"And I believe you've gone soft on us Adam. That… _or_ you're not with us anymore." He said making some of the others whisper among the group. In a voice loud enough to be heard by all, the lieutenant gave his final declaration. "The way I see it is we have the perfect target in our sights with nothing in our way, nothing except for you. Now make your choice Adam. Will you do your duty as our leader and take command of the raid, or will you stand against us and show where your true loyalty lies?"

There was complete silence in the room. Everyone even the lieutenant waited with bated breath for his answer.

'…' Adam slowly, methodically, brought his hand to Wilt's handle making everyone tense up. He wasn't their leader purely for his charisma. "I do not approve of this mission in any way." He said making some of them reach for their weapons. "But… I will not slay my own kin over something like this." He finished lowering his hand back to his side.

"Brothers and sisters of the fang acknowledge what we've just seen! The old Adam would've taken control if a mutiny arose, by force if necessary, but the man before us has backed down with naught but a few words. It pains me to say this, but for the sake of our righteous cause he must be replaced!" The lieutenant yelled getting agreement from the crowd. "Those that wish to follow our old leader step forward and stand with him."

No one moved to stand by the bull.

"Those who wish to stay with our great cause stand by me until a new leader is selected! And if I am chosen to be the new leader then I will continue on the path Adam started us on, but no longer walks!" The lieutenant yelled out getting a thunderous applause.

Adam watched as everything he had been working towards over the past few years came crashing down and grit his teeth. 'I've realized my mistakes, but they're running straight down that path… but before now I would be right there with them.' He thought before turning from the mob and leaving the base.

"If I want to lead my people to some kind of equality then I need followers, and to gain followers I need a path and goal." He said to himself. 'But do I want more followers after what just happened?' With that last thought he walked off into the night.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"See I told you we'd finish this mission faster if we ran." Kisame said with a grin as they ran across the trees.

"I didn't realize we were in a hurry." Itachi said from close behind.

They were quickly going about the route assigned for the mission, with Kisame having had enough Itachi decided that their "sightseeing" could be put on hold until next time. The route was just supposed to be in one of the corners of the kingdom, and at their current speed they quickly finished the patrol.

Now they were heading back in the direction of Vale. Well they were until Itachi heard a ringing. It took him longer than he'd care to admit realizing it was the scroll Roman had given him. He wasn't completely used to the device yet, but he could understand the basic functions. Stopping on the next sturdy branch he took the scroll out and answered it.

"Hello."

"Is this Itachi?"

"Yes, it is. I'm surprised to be hearing from you so soon Adam." He said as Kisame returned from where he stopped.

"I'd like to speak with the two of you again. A lot has happened since we last spoke." Adam said cryptically.

"Very well come to the same place as last time when the clock strikes midnight." Itachi said after thinking for a moment. Without waiting for a response, he hung up. "Let's get back." He said receiving a nod from Kisame.

 _With Adam_

It was nearing 11:30 and Adam had been waiting just around the corner from the warehouse.

'They indirectly helped me with the witch, so maybe they can help me here.' He thought to himself for the umpteenth time in the past half hour. He didn't seem to notice someone behind him, but he heard the movement of the air and reflexively jumped away. Spinning on his heel he saw the shark Faunus from before with his sword on his shoulder and a grin on his face.

"Hmm not bad reflexes you got there." Kisame said with a chuckle.

"What is your reason for attacking me now of all times?" Adam asked gripping his sword.

"Just simple curiosity." Kisame said rushing forward with his sword trailing behind him.

'He's fast.' Adam thought bringing his sword out to block the side swipe from Samehada. Even though he blocked the attack the force threw him to the side.

Getting back to his feet quickly Adam prepared his stance. "Very well."

Without another word Kisame ran forward attacking and testing the bull's abilities. To Adam's credit he was doing well to deflect and redirect Kisame's attacks but couldn't figure out why his semblance wasn't charging up.

After a short trade the two swordsmen jumped away from each other.

"Is defense all that sword of yours can do? Or is the handler the problem?" Kisame taunted.

Adam grit his teeth but didn't make any rash moves. 'Something about this doesn't feel right…' He thought before dashing forward with a quickdraw strike.

Kisame merely blocked the attack and grinned. "Is there anything special about the way you fight? Because what I've seen so far is pathetic."

With a scowl Adam exhaled a deep breath. "Fine then." He said as his aura started flaring and the red around him started to glow.

'This might be interesting.' The ninja thought preparing himself.

Adam dashed towards Kisame again, but much faster and delivered a quick series of strikes using afterimages. He followed up with a slash of pure concentrated aura, but it was just absorbed when it hit the other man's sword.

Adam clicked his tongue, 'Without my semblance absorbing any attacks I'm too limited in this fight.' He thought before gathering his aura once more. 'If head on won't work…'

Adam immediately repeated the series of attacks he had just used and threw another wave of aura at the man. When the glow disappeared Kisame tilted his sword out of the way. "That didn't work last time, so what made you think it'd work this time?" He asked looking towards the bull. What he saw he quickly realized wasn't Adam but a fading afterimage. He immediately felt the attack coming from behind him and turned back while jumping away.

When he landed, he felt a small cut on his cheek. "Well what do you know?" He asked before his body burst into water shocking Adam.

"What?! What just happened!?" He asked looking around. His head snapped towards the sound of quiet clapping. Up above him on one of the apartment balconies stood the two men he was waiting to meet.

"He got you Kisame, if only barely." Itachi said as the two jumped down to Adam's level. "You were overconfident again."

"Hm I know." Kisame said with a frown. "He isn't one of the seven swordsmen that's for sure, but with the right help… he could be." He said quietly to his partner.

"I see." Itachi responded just as quietly. "I must apologize for that Mr. Taurus, but we were curious as to your current strength and abilities."

"I don't take kindly to things like that, but for now that isn't important. What did you do? Was that a semblance?" Adam asked sheathing his sword.

"Something like that." Kisame said with a grin.

"Now then you wanted to meet with us, so here we are." Itachi said expectantly.

"I wanted to meet with you for two things, but I don't think this is the best place to discuss them." He said eyeing his surroundings.

"There's no one around to overhear us, so rather than drawing attention by moving locations why not just talk here?" The Uchiha asked.

Adam paused for another moment before shaking his head. "Right… our original discussion talked about the possibility of your joining with the White Fang, but with the current situation I've been ousted out of my position, so that offer probably doesn't stand." He said first while gauging their reactions. They didn't show anything aside from a raised eyebrow. "The other reason I came to you is because I haven't been able to find an answer to your question." He admitted looking to the ground. "No matter what idea pops into my head a thousand reasons it won't work appear just as fast, and that includes the current methods being used by the Fang."

"You've come to that conclusion on your own, so that's good." Itachi said with a nod. "As far as your lack of path now first you need to figure out what it is you want, but that can be decided later. How were you ousted from your position?"

It took a minute, but after a small mental argument in his head Adam went on to tell the ninja about the usurpation, the lieutenant, and his once subordinates.

Processing everything rather quickly Kisame spoke up. "Well what do you plan on doing now? Let them get away with this? Allow them to run straight into their possible deaths on a pointless mission? What will _you_ do?"

"… I don't share their same views any longer, but they are still my people." Adam said looking away momentarily. "I won't let them die a needless death this time, but if they continue on their path after that then so be it. I will bring equality to the Faunus alone if I have to." He finished turning away and walking in another direction.

Kisame turned to Itachi who had a small smile on his face. "Shall we see where this leads?"

Itachi glanced to his partner. "What do you think?" He asked with a small smirk.

With that the Morning Mist followed in the wake of the Crimson Bull.

 _With Ruby and Blake_

After their little heart to heart, Ruby texted her sister and partner saying they'd catch up later. Yang was a tad miffed about being ditched and left alone with the ice queen, but Ruby knew they liked each other more than they let on. With communication out of the way the girls were wandering Vale.

They visited a small ice cream shop at some point, and Blake explained a bit more about her past in the White Fang. Ruby's opinions on the matter didn't change all that much after hearing the story, but she did feel kinda bad for the White Fang since they couldn't see that their methods and actions were only increasing the hate in people. One thing led to another and Blake eventually mentioned her mentor in the fang but didn't go into much detail about him.

Now the two were back around the dock area where the group had originally split.

"You're that nervous huh?" Ruby asked from next to Blake. The two were sitting on a bench with Ruby attempting to get Blake back to Beacon.

"I know they'll question us about what we were doing, and Weiss might say something, and I might say something, and-" Blake said before Ruby put a finger on her lips.

"Shhhh." Ruby shushed before leaning back and smiling. "Blake it's alright. I can answer the questions, and any that don't need to be answered won't." She said simply.

"Ruby you and I both know you don't lie about things." Blake said seriously.

"Then I won't lie." She responded. Kisame and Itachi's faces flashing in her head. "If need be, I'll just not answer questions or just give them part of the truth." She finished.

"That's still… when did you learn to do stuff like that?"

"Well… I kinda asked Itachi and Kisame to teach me about lying, and they told me a bit about that kind of stuff since it isn't "technically" lying." She said with air quotes.

"I'm not sure those two are a good influence on you." Blake said with a small frown.

"Oh not you now… Yang has just started to like them now you're on my case about them." She said with a huff.

"Relax I'm just pulling your leg." Blake said with a smirk.

 _Boom_

 **A/N: Well hello everyone. I'm sorry about this chapter it's actually been done for a bit, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to stop it here or keep going. Anywho I love that all of you are talking about how easy it would be for Itachi to "kill" Salem with the Totsuka Blade, and I'm here to say I completely agree with you. I've always thought RWBY Naruto crossovers were odd as far as power scaling goes.**

 **RWBY is essentially people with some enhanced senses and a special ability or two with a small shield. Naruto characters on the other hand are something else entirely. I'm sorry if anyone disagrees, but that mindset is why Itachi and Kisame may be seen as OP. That's because in the show they fucking were! They didn't shine like some of the other characters in the limelight of victory, but they some of the strongest members in the Akatsuki. A group of nine (excluding Tobi) rogue ninja that caused problems for _every_ elemental nation. I won't start on who the strongest was because that's a can of beans in itself.**

 **That said just because it seems easy on paper doesn't mean I won't have a way to make it more difficult.**

 **Anyways sorry about that little geek out. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter showing something that has been building since the last chapter or so.**

 **If this wasn't your favorite because it focused on a different character then sorry, but don't worry it won't happen like that too often.**

 **I don't think any of the reviews really needed a response on my part. Itachi x Ruby is something that you all have been warring over for the past few chapters. Like I've always said and always will I don't usually pick a couple from the beginning I just go with my own flow when writing. If they get together or not it isn't a big deal to me because this isn't a romance heavy story. At least not at the moment.**

 **All that aside again I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **-Laz out.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Naruto**

Chapter 12

 _It was dark… oh so very dark, dark and cold. There it was…_

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

" _No… not again… please no!" She tried running, but her body wouldn't obey. All she could do was wait as the sound got closer. Each step filling her with nothing but cold dread._

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

' _He's here!' She internally panicked._

" _It's so dark in here, don't you think we could use some light?" He asked from behind her._

" _No…" She started as the fire formed around her. "No please No!" She screamed kneeling down and putting her head to the ground. "Make it stop! Get rid of it! Don't let it near me!" She sobbed closing her eyes and clutching her hands to her head._

" _What's the matter? I thought you were proud of your fire. This 'power' you wholeheartedly believed in." The man said in a calm tone._

 _Her eyes snapped open and she saw the flames in front of her. Lashing out at her just barely out of reach. "No more! I can't take it! Those flames are abhorrent!" She yelled clutching her head and forcing her eyes closed again._

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

 _He stopped right behind her trembling form. Silently he knelt next to her._

" _So, you've finally accepted it? These flames… they give you no power. They do not make you strong. Your reliance on them makes you weak. Pathetic. You aren't strong enough to reach your goals, you're not even strong enough to defeat me… and you know something? You never will be." He whispered into her ear sending freezing chills through her body while the fire's flames burned hotter around them. "Your fire may have its uses, but it will do nothing more than consume you." He finished before she felt him leave._

 _Her eyes shot open. "No please!" She begged as the fire closed in on her. Closer and closer until she was once more engulfed in flames._

"NO!" She screamed sitting up covered in sweat. 'Where am I? Where is he?!' She mentally screamed as she started to hyperventilate folding in on herself.

"Cinder!" The abrupt noise caused her to jump and back away. "I'm so glad you're awake… Cinder?" A green-haired girl asked with a worried look.

In front of her was the woman she owed her life to. The strong and cunning woman who would do anything to reach her goals. Or at least it was supposed to be. In front of her was a trembling woman drenched in sweat hiding away from everything else in the room.

"The flames… the accursed flames… they're coming for me they'll devour me!" She sat mumbling to herself as she looked for any flames.

"Cinder are you alright?" Emerald asked stepping closer.

"No stay away!" She screamed crawling back away from the girl ending up in a corner of the room.

Emerald looked hurt, but more than that worried. "Mercury go find Salem or Watts or someone!" She called to him.

With a nod he took off out of the room only to bump into someone and fall back on his rear. Looking up he saw dark red eyes that stared straight into his soul. Nothing in his life was able to make him feel smaller and more insignificant than that glare.

"C-cinder's awake." He said to which she simply moved past him and into the room.

Walking into the room Salem saw something that was slightly concerning to her. Cinder the half-maiden was trembling in a corner while the girl's… pet? Stood by looking helpless.

"Cinder you've awoken." She said as she took slow steps forward.

Cinder paused in her incoherent mumbling and looked up for a second before it started again.

"… can't, I can't… no more… never more…"

"She's been like this ever since-"

"Girl go fetch Watts and send him here." Salem interrupted not looking away from the trembling brunette.

"But-"

Salem broke her gaze away from Cinder and sent a glare to the greenette, who quickly shut her mouth and ran out the room.

'Children of today, they know nothing of respect.' She thought with a shake of her head before returning her gaze to her youngest subordinate.

"Cinder." She said in a quieter tone stepping forward once more.

Said girl flinched back but fell silent. Terrified amber eyes met calm red ones.

"Calm down you're safe now child." She soothed as she knelt to the girl. She may be an immortal witch, but every once in a while, long-thought dead maternal instincts would appear if only for a moment. Cinder seemed to bring out that side of her more than any of her other subordinates, and right now… there was little to no trace of the proud girl trying to play the role of an adult. Now all that sat before her was a scared child.

After a few moments of silence Cinder seemed to calm slightly.

"With the acknowledgement of it I'd imagine you still know your name, but do you know who I am? Where you are?" The witch asked probing.

"Y-yes mam. If you're here, then we're in the Grimmlands." She answered quietly. After calming down a bit she was trying to process everything.

"Good." Salem said standing from her kneeling position. "Arthur will be here shortly to check up on you. After that I need you to brief me on what happened to you, and you'll need to be caught up on what's happened while you were comatose." She said turning away.

"You called for me mam?" Arthur Watts' voice came from the hall.

"Yes, come in and check the health of our fall maiden." Salem ordered, missing the immediate stiffening at the mention of those words.

"Right away mam." He replied looking down the huddled mess that was Cinder. 'How delightful…'

With her orders given Salem left the two alone to focus on other things. Specifically, Tyrian.

To say she was displeased with his actions in Ardent were an understatement, and she knew by watching his actions that he knew it too. Since his return she had left him to his own devices as a sort of probationary thing, but it had been a few days since he'd shown his face around the castle at all. 'The Grimm shouldn't pose a threat to him, so where could he have wandered off to?' She thought with a small sigh. 'I must work with that which I have.' She finished her thought process.

 _With Cinder and Watts_

It took longer than he would've liked, but eventually the examination was complete, though the results weren't exactly conclusive.

"Well I suppose that is finished." He said aloud before looking to Cinder. "Is there anything else you feel I should know for my report to our lady?"

Cinder was silent a moment before shaking her head. She couldn't do it. "N-no nothing…"

"Hmm." Was his only response before standing and turning towards the door. "Remember Mistress Salem wished to see you after the examination." He said glancing over his shoulder. "I will be reporting to her now, so it would benefit you to hurry along." He finished leaving the room.

Cinder sat where she was looking to her lap. Her mind was all over the place at the moment, and she couldn't stick on any one thought.

She was broken from her mindscape by a meek voice, though at this point who was she to talk?

"Cinder?" Came the soft voice of Emerald whose head was poking out from the doorway. "Are you alright mam?"

Slowly Cinder met the green girl's gaze. "Yes… I'm fine…" She lied, but slowly stood up regardless. "I have a meeting with Salem. I'll be back soon." She said walking past the worried thief and concerned assassin.

Quite honestly, she felt horrible, but she had an appearance to maintain, or so she thought.

 _ **Break**_

 _The Docks_

 _Boom_

There not a hundred feet from where he had been standing were the smoldering remains of a Schnee dust crate.

Turning furiously to one of the Faunus that brought a _rocket launcher_ of all things with them to a dust robbery Adam seethed. "Are you insane?!" He yelled making the Faunus who fired tremble.

At the time it had seemed like a good idea. He just wanted to help remove a perceived obstacle from their path in the form of their former leader but judging by the glare he was receiving from the Lieutenant behind him, it wasn't the right choice to make.

"What would have happened if that detonation caused the other crates to explode?!" Adam continued. 'What the actual fuck!?'

"Hans I'm going to have to ask you to return to the ships and stay out of the rest of this operation." The Lieutenant said as evenly as he could.

The "Hans" in question merely looked down and walked to the nearest Bullhead and climbed in.

"Now then!" Called the Lieutenant. "Adam you've come to the raid. Have you finally realized the mistakes you made?"

Adam gazed at the Faunus around him. All once his subordinates even if he didn't know them all too well. Shifting his hand to the hilt of his sword he took his regular combat stance. "I have come to realize my mistakes. All of our mistakes." He said quietly, but with the silence of the dock area everyone heard his statement. Even the two shinobi perched at the top of the nearest warehouse. "I originally didn't wish to raise my blade against my own kin, but your actions here prove that you don't act with the best interests of the Faunus people. So, I will have to stop this raid. Alone should I have to." He aimed that last part to the ninja he knew were around, but not in sight.

"I wish it hadn't come to this, but it has. Everyone here has stood witness to our former leader's betrayal of our cause!" The Lieutenant called rallying the troops as it were. Despite the thunderous roars of anger there were still plenty of people having second thoughts about this whole thing. If not for the ideology difference, then at the thought of fighting their former leader. "We will split up! Airship crews find your squads and prepare the dust for evacuation! As for the rest of us, we will handle any and all obstacles." He yelled revving his chainsaw.

Despite most of the men being newer recruits they followed orders rather well. Adam mused as a group started encircling him.

Taking a deep breath, he released a small amount of killing intent, setting off some of the inexperienced members' fight or flight instinct. "If this is the path you walk then show me your conviction!" He shouted to the group, baiting them to attack.

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"This should be interesting." Kisame noted from his seated position.

"It may become more interesting soon." Itachi replied getting a grin from the shark.

"I'm dying to see how this plays out." He answered with that grin of his. "Red and black jumping in the middle of this mess how fun. Almost makes me want to jump in too." He finished eyeing his partner.

"We can't do anything like that. If we want to assess this man as well as the organization he used to lead then we need to observe, not run in and kill them." The Uchiha said calmly with his eyes closed. "Besides I also wish to see how Ruby and her teammate handle this. Our presence will merely cause a distraction."

"Fine… you're no fun Itachi." Kisame said with a huff.

"We have very different views on that word." He said finally opening his eyes to stare at his partner who just smirked right back.

"Given time I think we could come to an agreement."

"Perhaps, but probably not in this life. Try your hand at the next one, will you?" Itachi joked.

The shark-man just chuckled. "Fine let's sit back and enjoy the show."

 _With Ruby and Blake_

"Come on Ruby!" Blake shouted as they ran.

"I'm coming I was just sending a message to Yang." Ruby said from close behind. "I don't know what's going on, but we may need backup."

"Well get ready we're almost there." Blake said slowing down slightly.

'Hopefully this was just an accident but judging by the gunfire that's not the case.' Ruby thought with a sigh. "Who would start a fight at the docks? Or more specifically the shipment area, or whatever it's called?' "Hey Blake, do you have any idea who might be over here?" Ruby asked quietly as they scaled the top of some of the shipping crates to get a better view of what was happening.

Blake didn't answer but instead froze when she reached the top.

"Blake what's-" She started before Blake covered her mouth with her hand.

"Ruby we need to leave!" The cat Faunus said nervously.

"Why?" Ruby asked before looking out.

The dock area was a warzone. Smoke was billowing from the charred husk of what could only have been a shipping crate. Bodies littered the area, most of which seemed alive from what she could tell. What she did notice was that everyone present was wearing Grimm masks and… "White Fang…" Ruby mumbled before looking around. Who were they fighting?

She was about to voice her question when she saw a man in a black coat with a rose insignia on it surrounded by other White Fang members. He was backed against one of the shipping containers, and from what she could tell he seemed to be holding himself carefully. 'He might be injured.' She thought.

"Blake… the guy in black has a mask on, but it looks like he's the one they're targeting. Why would they target one of their own?" The reaper asked turning to her resident expert on the subject.

Blake however didn't respond. When Ruby looked back at her she saw her friend's face had paled to a ghostly white, and she was slowly backpedaling. "Adam…" She muttered as if in a trance.

Before she could ask what the problem was, she heard a booming voice from the semicircle of Faunus.

"It's over Adam! You've injured many of our brothers and sisters here today, but in the end even you can't fight off an army alone." A bigger man with a chainsaw? Yelled. 'Really?' She thought to herself.

"The White Fang doesn't tolerate traitors, so for that I must end you here." He declared stepping towards the black-themed man.

That little speech was enough for Ruby. She quickly drew Crescent Rose and stuck the tip of the scythe's blade into the ground.

Finally finding her voice Blake looked at Ruby confused. "Ruby what're you doing?" She asked without stepping any closer.

"Helping." She said lining the crosshairs on her target before pulling the trigger.

 _With Adam_

The fight up till this point had been going about as well as to be expected with his current situation, but even so Adam knew he had probably taken a few too many hits along the way. While not individually dangerous they had numbers that, were he in another position, he'd be proud of.

While the Lieutenant was making another grand speech, he thought about his remaining options. 'I need to figure a way out of this… sparing all their lives may've been too nice of me all things considered.'

It was true, he hadn't killed a single Faunus in the short time he'd been fighting. Most were merely unconscious from aura depletion, and a few had minor injuries, a few broken bones here and there, but they weren't attempting to give him the same courtesy.

'I can't count on those two bailing me out of here, so I need to play this correctly.' He thought getting ready to make a move as the Lieutenant stepped forward. Before he could start his plan, a loud gunshot rang throughout the docks. 'What…?'

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

 _Bang_

Itachi's eyes widened and Kisame's grin grew.

After a moment of silence Itachi looked to his partner. "Kisame…" He started in his calm tone. "Would you have anything to do with that?" He finished leveling a half-hearted glare at his grinning partner.

"What? I merely told her to take her fighting seriously, and seriously doesn't always mean cleanly now does it?"

"When we began training her, I hadn't really wanted her to become like us." Itachi said flatly before shaking his head. 'Oh well the damage is done, now we must move on.'

 _Back with Ruby and Blake_

Blake just stared at her leader. "R-ruby! Why on Remnant did you do that?" Blake hissed again.

"I told you I'm going to help." She said still looking through her scope for a moment.

Most of the White Fang didn't understand what just happened. Their temporary leader had been about to try and cut down their former one when his head jerked from an unseen force throwing him to the ground. Someone had just shot their leader with no warning or provocation. Okay maybe a little provocation.

All eyes turned to where the gunshot had come from only to see a black mass disappearing behind the crate it was on, and what looked like fading rose petals.

Adam quickly noticed the rose petals seemed to be coming towards them at a rapid speed. Crouching into his stance once more he got ready for the possible enemy. 'Just what I needed.' He thought sarcastically.

The mass of petals landed in front of him in the form of a little girl wearing a red cloak with an equally red scythe in her hand.

"Please don't attack me I'm here to help you." She said glancing at the precarious position she just put herself in. 'In hindsight this may've been the wrong way to do this.' She thought to herself.

"You don't even know who I am human, so mind your own business." Adam growled out defensively.

"You're right I don't, and I don't really care." She said stopping him in his tracks. "I just saw someone who I thought could use some help, and I wasn't going to standby and let this happen." She said angling herself to where she was facing more of the surrounding White Fang who didn't seem entirely sure what to do.

"Why would a human like you get involved in a Faunus problem?" Adam asked with a glare, though it wasn't as fierce as it usually was.

"Oum damnit what is everyone's problem with this human faunus crap?!" Ruby yelled, which sounded odd coming from her. "Human, Faunus, who cares? You're a person with a soul that's good enough for me." She declared sending her own version of a glare to the man she was trying to save. "Now will you let me help you, or are you just going to keep whining like a little bitch!?" She finished before pausing as she realized what she just said. 'Oopsie.' She thought to herself.

 _With Kisame and Itachi_

"Kisame?"

"This one isn't on me." He defended with a frown. "Probably her sister let something out at some point." He suggested.

"Hmm."

 _Back in the middle of things_

While he might've normally taken offence at this tiny girl calling him a name like that, right now he didn't care. With the slightest upward curve of his lips he shook his head. "Alright girl. If I'm going to be saved by a human, then I hope she can at least follow through." He said getting ready and standing next to the girl. "Just don't kill any of them." He whispered to her.

Off to the side the Lieutenant was laying on the ground trying to figure out what had hit his head but wasn't able to make sense of the jumbled thoughts.

"We need to force them to retreat." Ruby said getting an odd look from the bull.

"You aren't going to try to arrest them?" He asked incredulously.

"Normally I would… but this time I'll settle for helping someone and stopping them." She said.

"Hmm." Was all she got in response to that. "I'll take the ones on the right. You take the ones on the left."

"Right. Oh, I'm Ruby by the way."

Adam stared at the odd girl for another second before relenting. "Adam. Let's go." He said rushing forwards.

'He's fast.' Ruby thought in slight awe. With her semblance she could be faster, but as a base speed it was impressive.

True to his own rules he went about nonlethally taking out the fang grunts surrounding them.

'He's strong.' She thought before starting on her own set of grunts. 'I wonder where Blake went…' She thought as she tore through their lines. Momentum carried her fluidly through the crowd knocking grunts away as she continued.

By now, the Lieutenant had sat up and saw his forces in disarray. 'No one stepped up when I fell, and now it's pure chaos.' He thought to himself as he propped himself on his chainsaw. He briefly watched two black and red blurs fighting through the remaining fang members. 'Adam and most likely whoever shot me.' He thought before trudging towards the nearest bullhead.

"Brothers and Sisters of the White Fang it is time we retreat! Retreat and live to fight another day!" He called as he climbed into the bullhead. "Gather as many wounded as you can and get back to base!" He called into the radio.

A voice over the radio crackled back. "But sir we haven't finished hooking all the containers up to the bullheads."

"I'd rather save our fellow revolutionists than have a few more containers of dust. Take what we have and begin to help with the evacuation." The Lieutenant ordered.

Upon looking back out the bullhead he saw the fighting had stopped.

The conscious Fang members were carrying their unconscious or injured companions back towards the bullheads.

Behind them he saw Adam and a figure in red seemingly letting them go. 'He's made a fool of me and the rest of the Fang.' He growled. 'He will regret letting us escape.'

 _With Ruby and Adam_

"Well that was fun." Ruby said happily.

Adam just glared at her. "Why because you had an excuse to beat up some Faunus?" He asked tensely. She may have helped him out, but if she wasn't careful, he'd kill her where she stood.

"Okay Mr. Glares-a-lot let's get something straight. "Ruby said looking into the mask of the man in front of her. "I don't care that they were Faunus. I don't care that you're a Faunus. One of my teammates is a Faunus! I had fun because I was able to act like a huntress should. I helped someone and fought off some bad guys, so yes, I had fun. Is that a problem?" She huffed. All day today it was race this, Faunus that, and Ruby was getting fed up with it.

Adam grit his teeth before letting out a sigh. "No, it isn't." He said before he thought about what else she had said. "If you have a team where are they?" He asked not noticing anyone around them.

"Well I was here with one of my teammates, but she ran off as soon as I shot the big dude." Ruby said with an almost saddened tone. "The other two should be arriving soon since I told them where I was, but they don't seem to be here yet."

"Why did your teammate leave you in the middle of a large group of White Fang alone?" Adam asked very much confused.

"Well…" Ruby said scratching the back of her head. "She kinda… seemed to recognize you since she said 'Adam…'" Ruby said doing her best impression of a terrified Blake.

"Recognize me huh? I tend to stay out of the news when possible, so how is it she knew my name?" He asked curious despite himself. He should've ditched this girl by now and moved on to planning or talking to those partners again. He _had_ ended their discussion on a rather odd point.

"Well…" Ruby paused again. "I don't really know if I can tell you that." She admitted. Since Blake was once part of the White Fang and this guy was also from the Fang, and appeared to be a cut above the rest of the uniformed mooks it was safe to assume he was in a higher position than they were, so he might know Blake, and that could be a good or a bad thing. She wasn't sure yet.

"Was she that Faunus teammate you mentioned?" Adam said staring past Ruby into the shadows between the crates. Another quick movement and he moved his gaze back to the red-cloaked girl.

"What makes you ask that?" Ruby asked trying to not give anything away. Kisame and Itachi had taught her this, talk in circles if need be!

"Belladonna." He said making Ruby's eyes involuntarily widen. "Blake Belladonna. That's her isn't it?" He asked calmly.

"Heh heh… do you happen to know her?" She asked lamely.

"I was her mentor in the Fang." He said gauging her reaction to see just how much this girl really knew.

"And I'm guessing from her reaction earlier you both didn't leave on the best of terms?"

He snorted. Adam Taurus snorted. "You could say that." He said with a small chuckle.

"She seemed like it was bad, but here you are laughing about it…" Ruby said not really understanding.

"Perhaps if I was still leading the Fang then I would be in a poorer mood, but all I can feel towards Blake is disappointment." He said shaking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"She ran from the White Fang, which isn't too bad on its own, but based off what I've seen tonight she's still running." He said before nodding to the crates behind the girl. "She was just watching us from over between those crates, but when I looked at her, she fled. It's disappointing that she'd leave her teammate behind with someone she deems dangerous."

"Oh…" Ruby said looking back to where he nodded. "Well I'll be alright. You're dangerous, but recently I've been making a lot of dangerous friends." She said with a smile.

"Oh really? Making friends with the big scary kids on the playground?" He teased. He couldn't explain it, but he was actually enjoying himself in the presence of this little human.

Ruby pouted at that. "No! I mean like _actually_ dangerous. More dangerous than you even!" She challenged.

"And who would these friends of yours be that are more dangerous than me? And how do you know how dangerous I am?" He goaded her.

"I'll answer the second first. Your fighting style is very fluid and aggressive." She said becoming more serious for a moment. "And while you fought the other White Fang earlier it was clear your style wasn't meant to be used nonlethally. You seemed to be holding back or changing attacks right before they landed." She added shocking him slightly. "That said I can see the experience you have using your weapons. Someone who's experienced with their weapons and fighting style is always going to be dangerous." She paused to take a breath.

'Damn…' Adam thought to himself. 'She read my fighting style while we were fighting. That ability in itself is dangerous.'

"The other question of yours is simple." She said looking slightly cheerier. "They're two friends of mine named Itachi and Kisame."

As soon as she said that Adam's mind froze.

"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events isn't it?" A voice from behind them spoke. Adam whipped his head around and Ruby pounced at the two.

"Kisame! Itachi!" She said happily clinging to them.

"Calm down Ruby we've only been gone for a week or so." Itachi said prying the girl off.

"I knoooooow, but I was so bored with you two gone." She pouted. "Though I guess today was interesting on the whole." She added looking back to Adam to see him completely frozen. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Don't worry about him Red some things aren't adding up in his head is all." Kisame said with a chuckle.

"This doesn't even make sense anymore, and yet everything is so much clearer." Adam mumbled to himself.

 _With Yang and Weiss_

"Come on Weiss we're almost there." Yang said. The remaining members of RWBY were quickly heading towards the docks after receiving Ruby's rather cryptic message.

"I'm coming you oaf just keep pace." Weiss said from next to her. Running in heels is rather difficult, so the heiress had two small glyphs beneath her feet and was gliding. It was almost like she was ice skating.

As they came closer to their destination Yang noticed a familiar form huddled against a nearby building. "Hold up a sec Weiss." She said slowing down. "Blake?"

The girl in question looked up with wide eyes. "Yang?! I'm sorry, but you need to help Ruby! I can't, I can't face him." She said hysterically.

"Whoa Blake calm down what're you-" Yang started taking a step forward.

"You don't understand! She's in danger! She shouldn't be anywhere near him." The secret Faunus interrupted.

"She's in danger?! Where?" Yang asked switching gears quickly.

"The docks she shouldn't be with that man." Blake said with wide erratic eyes.

Without another word Yang rushed off to the docks. Weiss meanwhile decided she needed to stay with her clearly unstable teammate. "Blake calm down…" She said calmly. "Who is he?"

"Weiss…" Blake suddenly stilled looking to the heiress. "You may know him… Adam Taurus…" She finished looking to the ground.

"You left Ruby with the Crimson Bull?!" Weiss asked momentarily losing her cool façade. Adam Taurus was one of the few people in the world who had been and is _still_ on her father's shit-list for longer than a few months, and in Atlas there was a kill-on-sight order for him. She'd heard what this man was capable of, and the fact that their leader had been left alone with him was very concerning.

Much like Yang had done, Weiss quickly rushed to the docks, and with the use of her glyphs quickly caught up with Yang. "Yang we need to hurry. If Blake is right, then time is of the essence" Weiss said as she passed the girl.

 _Meanwhile at the docks_

"After all the fighting and explosions, I'm kind of surprised the police haven't shown up yet." Ruby noted more to herself than those around her.

"The police force of this kingdom is a joke." Adam said with a shake of his head. "They spend more time antagonizing the Faunus in the slums than any other useful activity. In the past the Fang has always been more concerned with huntsmen and huntresses. They're more punctual with their timing and an overall more dangerous force."

"Ah." Ruby responded not really having another response.

"Red I'm curious." Kisame said gaining her attention. "Just where'd you learn a word like the one you used earlier?"

Ruby had the decency to blush. "I- well- I mean… heh heh…" Ruby stuttered rubbing the back of her head.

"Go ahead Ruby I'm sure we're all curious." Itachi encouraged. It was small, but there was definitely an amused smile on his face.

"Well… while you guys were gone, I realized I had a bit more free time, and got bored with the usual day-to-day, and kinda found this show online that was really good." Ruby started using hand motions for some inexplicable reason. "It was called Black Lagoon, and one of the main characters is this super awesome gunslinger named Revy, and there's a lot of fighting, and cursing, and stuff!" She said waving her hands about excitedly.

Kisame and Itachi just looked at her then to each other and shrugged. Watching stuff online wasn't exactly possible in the elemental nations, and even now they had little to no experience with the many intricacies of the internet.

"It was a good show." Adam spoke up surprising the others. "I wouldn't suggest someone as young as you watch it though." He added getting a pout from Ruby. The idea of an island city full of criminals and deviants all living and fighting with one another reminded him a lot of Vacuo, and despite everything wrong with it he liked Vacuo. There was no discrimination of the Faunus over there. They just believed in strength, anything else was irrelevant.

"Right… well I believe we should clear out before someone arrives. The first arrivals should be your teammates Ruby." Itachi said turning around. "Adam…" He paused looking over his shoulder. "If you would like to contact us in the future for any reason then speak to Ruby here." He said getting odd looks from the others, even his partner.

"Why would I go through a little girl to contact the two of you?" Adam asked confused.

"You still carry prejudice and a general spite for humankind with you even if you are no longer part of the White Fang. Ruby should be able to help with that. Surely you've noticed the slight change in your own attitude from the brief time you've already spent around her." He said leaving Adam silent. "Come on Kisame let's head back." He added looking forwards once more.

With that the shinobi quickly disappeared into the night.

After another few moments of silence Ruby looked to Adam. "So… I guess we should trade numbers?" Ruby asked shyly. It was odd to Adam just how quickly she could change moods and tones.

With a small sigh he fished his scroll from inside his jacket. "Fine."

After exchanging numbers Adam turned and started walking towards another exit.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked slightly confused.

"The police are incompetent, but they will arrive eventually. I need to make myself scarce. Besides if Itachi was correct then your team will be arriving shortly, and most people don't try the talking idea with a confirmed terrorist." He added over his shoulder. "See you around Red."

"Am I really an oddity when it comes to stuff like that?" Ruby asked herself. "Wait… I didn't try the talking thing earlier! I took that big guy down!" She argued to his retreating form.

Adam stopped for a moment and looked back to her. Then he just smirked. "And right after that what did you do?" He asked before walking out of sight.

Not more than a moment passed before she heard people yelling her name. Turning to the voices she saw Weiss and Yang running towards her looking worried.

"Hey guys what's the rush?" Ruby asked. "You guys missed the fighting by a solid five minutes."

"On our way over here we found Blake who said you were in trouble." Yang said looking around the area. "She kept going on about this 'him'… but there's nobody here."

"Oh, she was probably talking about Adam…" Ruby thought aloud. 'Wait…' She paused to look at the heiress' face.

"Ruby… do you know who the man Blake was talking about really is?" Weiss asked slowly.

"I know she called him Adam, and he said his name was Adam, so I guess Adam."

"Ruby he's one of the higherups of the White Fang. You're lucky to have survived facing him. He has a deep hatred of humans." She said with a small sigh.

"Umm… well I didn't actually fight him…" Ruby said slowly. "I actually joined the fight to save him… Oh and he _was_ one of the higherups in the Fang."

"What?" Yang asked confused.

"He was surrounded by other Fang guys, so I decided to help him out. I didn't know who he was till I jumped into the middle of everything."

"Ruby… what exactly happened?" Weiss asked now worried for an entirely different reason.

"Well I jumped in after shooting a big guy down. Then we spoke for a moment I learned he likes to glare, and then we fought the rest of the White Fang mooks surrounding us. After they retreated, we talked a bit more, and he left." She finished not mentioning the return of her favorite ninja just yet.

"Ruby… please don't tell me you became friends with one of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet." Weiss said pinching the bridge of her nose for the oncoming headache she was no doubt to get.

"Umm alright then…" Ruby said before going quiet.

"Are you serious Rubes?" Yang asked still not quite believing what she was hearing.

Ruby answered by pulling up her phone and showing them her newest contact.

"Mr. Glares-a-lot." Yang read before laughing. "You called him glares-a-lot?" She asked in between laughs. "That's great!"

"My teammate is friends with Adam Taurus. Adam damned Taurus… what happened to my normal life?" Weiss asked tiredly.

"Normal is no fun." Ruby said throwing an arm around Weiss' shoulder. "By the way where's Blake?"

 **A/N: Well hello everyone. I hope you all enjoyed reading this. This chapter I had 3 or 4 fairly obvious references from other things, at least in my mind, so I'm curious if you guys can pick up on those.**

 **Anywho... how was it? I had fun with this chapter. I decided to give a little peek into how things are going on the Salem side, but I will warn you there may be a time difference between what happened in the beginning versus our night on the docks. Did it happen before? Is it something that will happen in the upcoming chapters that I just stated here? Am I leading you all on in a lie while these events actually did happen at similar times? Who can say?**

 **Now onto something I've been seeing a lot in the review section. Adam.**

 **Mini-rant if you don't want to read skip down to regular review response area.**

 **Most all the comments on how I'm handling Adam so far have been positive. I want to talk a little bit about him and why he's different here. Yes he's started seeing the error of his ways and all that, but I'm specifically talking about personality differences between this and canon. We met Adam in the Black trailer and he was pretty much an instant bad ass. This was pushed further in season two on team RWBY's mission to Mt. Glenn when Blake gave a bit of exposition on the kind of person he was. Strong. A mentor. Assuring their cause was just. Slowly turning into a monster. Then he shows up volume three in the Cinder flashbacks where he made decisions that would benefit the Faunus, and help in their own goals. Until he was kinda forced by Cinder... Then comes the last few episodes of season 3. Up until then he was a cool character. Good bad guy setup. Then those last few episodes... The writers make him into this obsessive stalkerish ex-lover. Like... what...? They felt the need to further vilify a character that is already a leader in a _terrorist_ group! There's no need to go further than that really. From that point on he was basically just a tool to push a relationship on the fandom, and I've discussed how I view those kinds of things. His potential was completely wasted, so I'll see if I can't change that. Are some things off about him personality wise? Probably, but in canon we didn't know jack about him aside from "BLAKE!" and near the end we saw he had a branding on his face. There's a lot of room for me to work with, so I'll gladly do that.**

 **Phew got that out.**

 **Review time:**

 **Not too much to really address this time.**

 **No if you all remember I did a little review poll on whether to add more Akatsuki or not, and the vote ended in a 'no' so we won't be seeing any of the other fantastic duos. Seriously they were all so great, and the banter was top notch. Even those throw away scenes with Deidara and Tobi chasing the three tails were hilarious. The only real exception was Pain and Konan I guess. They just weren't as fun, but that's more my view than anything else.**

 **More romance stuff. la de da de dah. Matemeo I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not in this review, but I'll take it as genuine since I don't think I'm overly pushing anything romance wise. At most, I'm just setting up a few things that could happen. At least, I'm not even doing anything that'll lead anywhere.**

 **GreenKnight: you just did ask a question, but sure.**

 **Yes the story is still running.**

 **Alright cool that's most everything.**

 **Like always thanks for the Faves, Follows, and Reviews.**

 **You all know the drill by now, Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own it yadda yadda**

Chapter 13

"Physically, everything checks out. Her aura seemed to be responding to stimuli normally if slightly slow, and there is nothing wrong with her body." Watts said to the black queen.

"I see. What of her mental state? You've only reported on her physical well-being." Salem asked narrowing her eyes. She filed the aura bit away for later. Something about all of this felt off to the immortal witch.

Arthur Watts frowned. "Her mental state is what I'm unsure of. A full psychological evaluation would take time and different instruments than what we have here. She said that everything was fine, but as you must have seen earlier that is not the case." He said maintaining his frown.

"That is worrisome." Salem said from her throne. Bridging her hands together in her lap, she looked towards one of the windows. 'First Tyrian disappears, and now Cinder is under questionable health… all of this occurring because of two new unknowns… where could they have come from. Staying completely off the grid until this point would be nearly impossible. Has Ozma been hiding them?' She thought to herself before realizing Watts was still there. "Unless you have anything else to report you are dismissed. Send Cinder in after you and inform Hazel I need to see him when he returns."

"Of course, mam." Watts said with a slight bow of the head before leaving.

'What is this feeling I'm getting… I haven't felt this way in a long time…' She thought before shaking her head and redonning her calm mask. Such thoughts could wait until after dealing with her subordinates.

Within a few seconds the fall half-maiden stood before her.

"Cinder." She addressed looking the girl over. "Arthur tells me you're well as far as his tests can tell. Is there anything else you think may need to be assessed before sending you back to Vale?"

Cinder's eyes momentarily darted down before looking back towards the woman before her. "N-no mam." She said wincing at her stutter.

"Cinder. Look into my eyes." She commanded.

Slowly dull amber eyes met red in pools of black.

"Don't lie to me. Are you ready to go back?"

"… No…" Cinder admitted looking down in shame.

"Raise your head Cinder." Salem said.

"What happened? From what your subordinates reported, there was no fight, you just suddenly collapsed."

"I… I'm not entirely sure… everything was going according to plan, but… he looked at me and everything turned red."

 _ **Break**_

 _The Docks_

"By the way where's Blake?"

Weiss and Yang paused at that. Yang narrowed her eyes slightly and Weiss turned around.

"Let's go find out. I'm very curious as to why she'd leave you alone with terrorist scum like him anyways." Weiss said as she started walking back from where they came.

"Hey! He wasn't that bad…" Ruby said poking her fingers together.

"Ruby understand this from someone who has a normal view on life. No offence. Most people wouldn't want to be left alone with a hostile terrorist. You my dunce of a partner are the biggest exception I've ever seen." Weiss said as calmly as she could.

"Is that a good thing?" The reaper asked.

"Honestly I'm not sure." She said as the three started walking.

While they were walking Ruby was thinking about Blake with a frown.

 _R: Hey Adam why's Blake so afraid of you? I'm kinda hurt she just left me out to dry earlier._

 _G-A-L: Why're you already… never mind. She's probably afraid because I taught her everything she knows about fighting, but not everything I know. As far as combat goes, she doesn't have a very good chance of beating me. Now scram human._

 _R: \\(*~*)/ Rude! Don't make me get K+I on your ass!_

 _G-A-L: Oh is the little human too afraid to take me on that she'd call others to do it?_

 _R: You are so on! This weekend I'm kicking your ass! One on One!_

 _G-A-L: When and where Red? Don't cry when I win._

"Whatcha doin over here?" Yang asked making Ruby jump and fumble with her scroll.

"Nothing! I was just trying to see why Blake was so scared of Adam." 'And he was a complete butt about it.' She thought with a pout.

"Ruby I know you make friends in unlikely places, but please don't text terrorists like it's a normal thing." Weiss said pinching the bridge of her nose.

"But this was team related!" Ruby defended before sending one last message. "Besides it's not like we were doing anything else to occupy this walk." She added as they saw Blake slowly walking towards them.

Once she got within a few feet of them they all stopped. Blake's gaze was on the ground and she was wringing her hands together. The rest of RWBY was looking to the girl deciding if they should ask first or see if she'll speak up.

"I know you all probably have a lot of questions, but before we start, I should tell you something I've been hiding… I used to be part of the White Fang." She squeaked out with her eyes closed.

Instead of the indignant shouts or cries of anger she was met with silence. Eventually she couldn't take it and opened her eyes to look to her team.

Ruby already knew and appeared to be looking at her scroll before closing it. Yang's eyes widened slightly, but otherwise didn't have a response. Weiss, whose response she had been dreading the most, just had a frown on her face and an elegant eyebrow raised.

"Let me get this straight." Weiss said taking a step forward. Blake wanted to backstep but knew she shouldn't. "The reason you knew of Adam Taurus of all people is because you used to be in the White Fang?" She asked not breaking her calm composure.

"Yes…" Blake answered hesitantly. "I haven't been in contact with him since-"

"Ah! Ah! Ah! No. You knew what kind of person he is. You know how dangerous he is. The panic attack earlier confirms as much." Weiss continued getting a small nod. "What on _Remnant_ possessed you to leave our dunce of a leader alone with him!" Weiss shouted making Blake take a step back.

"Weiss calm down it isn't that big of a deal." Ruby said from over her shoulder.

"No Ruby had it been _anyone_ , and I mean any _other_ human huntsman or huntress-in-training that did what you did, they'd probably be in the hospital, or dead right now!" Weiss continued rounding on her partner who held her hands up in surrender.

"Hey, I want to know too, but calm down a little let's talk like civilized people." Ruby placated.

"Civilized will never be associated with this team." Weiss muttered before turning back to Blake. "You better have a good reason for abandoning a teammate in a dangerous situation."

"Alright hold up." Yang said drawing in everyone's attention. "I get that he's a terrorist and whatnot"

"Former!"

"but what has both your panties in a twist?" She finished.

"Right you don't know about him, do you?" Weiss asked rhetorically. "Adam Taurus from what I know of him, is one of the most violent and accomplished White Fang operatives in their history. He hates humans and is rather well known for his aggression." Weiss said before looking over to Blake. "Care to add anything else?"

"Other than him being the leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang, no." Blake said quietly.

After the brief explanation everyone could feel an instant increase in the air temperature. Yang's eyes were slowly turning red while looking between her partner and sister. "One of you explain. Now." She said clenching her fist.

"Alright I'll do it, but for now let's get back to the room it's really late." Ruby ordered as she began walking. She stopped before she passed Blake. "Don't think this means I don't have questions for you too." She started quietly. "I said I'd trust you and stand by your side… I'm sad you weren't willing to do the same." She finished not meeting the girl's gaze.

Blake watched her leader go by clenching her fist. She didn't understand it, but a hollow pit was forming in her stomach, and it hurt. 'Ruby…'

Silently the other members of their team passed by following Ruby. Once they had gone by Blake let out a silent sigh and followed. She knew she'd messed up, but the worst was yet to come.

 _Later with Itachi and Kisame_

The usual duo was back inside their main underground base in one of the planning rooms.

"We will need more information, but right now we're limited to this kingdom." Itachi said looking at a map of Remnant.

"We need eyes outside. Torchwick has good information, but it's limited…" Kisame said with a frown. "What about the good headmaster?"

"We can't rely on him. He has information, but he also seems to be… set in his ways. That kind of man can be dangerous. Especially if desperate. We need another source at the very least."

"The man that fought Qrow wasn't too difficult to beat, but in this world's terms of strength he was good." Kisame said rubbing his chin. "Perhaps I should've captured him… he would've been a good source of information and possibly a mole if properly… convinced." He finished with his usual grin.

"Calm down Kisame, no need to get too excited." He said with an amused smile. "Loathe as I am to admit it… we can't do this alone." The Uchiha said closing his eyes.

"Don't sound so disappointed it isn't like we're trying to accomplish world peace or anything." The shark said waving his hand dismissively. "This was never going to be easy. Even in the Elemental Nations there were quite a few people like us, and we still ended in failure."

"You're right…" Itachi said going quiet. "People like us… I didn't care for most of them, but I wouldn't mind having a few people like them here to help."

"Makes you wonder how Madara planned everything from the shadows." The mist ninja grunted.

"Well, as you said, it didn't seem to really work out in the end did it? Although in theory it is an idea worthy of merit. As one of the simplest things they teach Genin of Konoha it shouldn't be surprising. Teamwork is key…" Itachi said with a nostalgic look.

"So we're in agreement?" Kisame asked with his trademark grin.

"Yes I believe we are. We have some work to do. We can start in the morning. I'll take the first watch."

"Alright… but first what do we do about her?" The shark asked gazing into his partner's eyes.

"Ruby… can follow whatever path she chooses. She can join us, stand back, or stand against us." He said closing his eyes for a moment.

"And if she stands against us?"

"Then so be it. Our goal is for the sake of people like her. Our methods will not always reflect that."

"If it comes to it…"

"I will not kill her Kisame, and I don't think you want to either."

"It wouldn't be the first time I've had to do something I didn't want to." Kisame said turning away. "We're training her for nothing right now, but soon it could start leading to a more shinobi-like result. She won't stand by when everything comes to a head."

"No I don't think she will. At some point she will pick a side."

"Are we training our own executioner?" He asked turning his head to look to the Uchiha.

"If that's what needs to happen. We both know this doesn't end with this shadow war." Itachi said meeting Kisame's gaze.

"I know…" He said before a small smirk came back to his face. "I guess we'll need to up her training."

"So it would seem." Itachi said sitting down for his watch.

 _With RWBY_

"Alright Rubes start talking." Yang said from her position in front of the door. Despite their insistence she declined taking a seat. Ruby was sitting on Weiss' bed much to the heiress's chagrin. Nonetheless, said heiress was sitting next to her partner. Blake was quietly sitting on her own bed.

"It's late…" Ruby said looking at her scroll. It was around two in the morning at this point, and some of the members of Team RWBY were more tired than others. "But let's get this over with. Where do we start?"

"I want to hear how this whole thing happened." Yang said getting a nod from the heiress.

"Yes… we split up and the next thing we know, you need help at the docks." 'Now the split up makes more sense with what we were talking about.' Weiss thought to herself.

Ruby decided to take the lead here. "Weiss, you and Blake were going at each other a bit on the whole Faunus thing, and while I didn't know why it bothered her so much I decided to step in and get the both of you some breathing room. We spent the day together talked a bit about it, and she told me about the Faunus/White Fang thing." She said pausing to make sure everyone was with her. "After talking about everything it took some… convincing to get her back to the academy, and… well it was really late at this point, we were heading back towards the bulhead port when we heard a loud explosion. Being the huntresses-in-training we are, we rushed to the scene. When we arrived, we saw a bunch of White Fang all surrounding a guy in black. I later learned his name was Adam. Blake didn't really seem too intent on doing anything, so I decided I'd help myself."

"Pause." Weiss said getting a questioning look from Ruby. "You saw a group of White Fang surrounding a stranger, and after seeing your teammate not wanting to fight, you decided to go it alone?"

"Yes Weiss now let me finish." She said quickly stopping Weiss' retort. "I know in hindsight it's obvious Blake wanted nothing to do with that mess, but at the time I was just wanting to help a person in need. If I could go back, I'd do it again." She said firmly leveling a glare at the heiress. "Now then, I wanted to help, and some guy with a chainsaw was yelling out to everyone. It might've been a speech, but I wasn't paying too much attention. He seemed like the leader, and you guys know that old saying. If you want to kill a snake, then chop off the head… Wait is that racist?" She asked looking between her teammates.

Weiss' palm quickly met her face. Blake didn't seem responsive to her question, and Yang couldn't help the grin that came on her face, nor the snort that came with it.

"Rubes you were doing so good, but then you say something like that." Yang said covering her mouth with her hand. She didn't want them to mistake her smile for them being off the hook.

"Hey it's a legitimate question!"

"Mhmm sure Ruby." Weiss said with a small yawn.

"Fine since everyone's tired I'll keep it brief." The reaper said crossing her arms. "I wanted to help, so I shot the chainsaw guy, and then I jumped into the middle of everything next to Adam. We conversed shortly before coming to an agreement that I wasn't trying to be a racist human. After that we took out most everyone and they retreated. Blake seemed to have left shortly after I jumped in. Then I talked with him some more." She said getting faster and faster. With a sigh she looked to the others. "That's most of what happened. Anything else?"

"I have one for Blake. Your answer will decide what I do next." Weiss said with a cold stare.

"Go ahead ask whatever you'd like."

"Why leave Ruby? If it's true that you cut contact with the Fang, then what stopped you from interfering with their robbery?"

"It… I… I was… _close_ to Adam before I left. We were both members early on back when the White Fang would stage peaceful protests and boycotts. He was part of the reason for their new militaristic style. Part of the reason for the Grimm masks they wear. When our ways changed, I continued to follow believing we were doing the right thing. That we were making a difference… With our new style we had to have training, and he was in a word my mentor. He taught me everything from combat, to stealth, to intimidation." Blake said pausing. "That said I'm no fool. He's stronger than I am. Much stronger. So when Ruby jumped into the horde of Fang landing next to him… I froze. Unfortunately that didn't last long, because the next thing I did was run. Terrified." She finished looking down into her lap.

'I guess Adam was right…' Ruby thought with a small frown. 'She didn't believe even with the two of us that we could've drove him off once the mooks were dealt with… Am I too weak?' Was her last question as she completely tuned out her teammates around her.

"I see." Weiss said evenly before looking to Ruby whose fists were clenched in her lap. She was way out her depth in regard to helping with Ruby's inner turmoil, whatever it was, so she did the only thing she could think of. Something her sister had done on occasion to help her whenever father had gone overboard. Weiss slowly gave her leader a small hug to the side. 'It isn't exactly how Winter does it, but for now I think it'll be enough.' She thought seeing Ruby's eyes snap open.

Ruby wasn't ready for the sudden contact, but when she opened her eyes she took in the situation. Without saying anything she slightly snuggled into the side-hug

Yang meanwhile was glaring at Blake. If things like this kept happening, then they were going to have problems. They were teammates, and her partner left her baby sister to what she thought to be certain death! Or at best injury.

"Blake…" She said lowly. The temperature of the room started rising. Red eyes met shame-filled amber ones. She closed her eyes tightly before finishing, "I'm disappointed…" She said releasing a massive breath. Lilac eyes opened, and with a small look towards the two on Weiss' bed she walked over to her bed and jumped in.

After watching their interaction Ruby sighed quietly to herself. 'I'll need to be more observant in the future. Perhaps this could've gone down better.' She thought before looking to Weiss. "Thanks Weiss." She said quietly before standing and walking over to the light switch. Flipping it off she returned to her own bed. "Goodnight RWBY." She said softly laying her head on her pillow.

'Goodnight Ruby.'

"Goodnight Rubes."

'Goodnight you dunce.'

With an awkward feeling in the air team RWBY settled in for sleep.

 _A few days later_

"Come on! Is this all the legendary Uchiha can do?" A large blue man taunted his foe.

"Is the taunting necessary Kisame?" Itachi asked with a small pant.

"Until I see something I like then yes. I'm a former swordsman of the mist, I have standards for swordplay." He said holding a blade he… procured. Samehada kills, and he's said it plenty of times, it isn't a dueling weapon. What he was using was a standard training blade.

Across from him was Itachi with his own sword. "I'm a few years out of practice with a sword. Kenjutsu was never my strong suit." Itachi said dashing forwards.

Kisame met him halfway and the two locked blades. "Don't give me excuses prove me wrong." The shark hissed with a grin. With his piece said he broke the lock and swung in a low slash. Itachi hopped back out of range before Kisame ran forward again.

Not getting any time to breathe, Itachi was on the backfoot purely defending. His opponent was giving him everything he had, and the Uchiha knew he was out of his depth. Kisame on the other hand knew how his partner fought. Itachi like most Uchiha back when they existed, fought using defensive tactics and focused on countering attacks and exploiting weaknesses. The Sharingan was the biggest key to this style. That's precisely why he wasn't allowed to use it.

 _Flashback_

" _Just trust me on this one." Kisame said with his usual grin._

" _You're suggesting a Kenjutsu style that directly opposes my Taijutsu style." The once heir deadpanned._

" _You and I both know how much you love mind games, so this is right up your alley."_

"…"

" _Come on Itachi, we both know it'll be useful in the future."_

" _Fine. Just don't go overboard, it's been a few years since I've practiced Kenjutsu, and never with a blade like the one I have now."_

" _We both know holding back won't help anyone." Kisame said his grin becoming wider._

' _Is this how the Nara see everyday life?' Was his last thought._

 _Flashback End_

"You won't win by playing defensively." The shark reminded.

"With how aggressive you fight it is difficult to take an offensive." Itachi answered with a dodge of an overhand swing. Twirling to the right he swung for Kisame's neck. Kisame leaned away from the strike and kicked out knocking Itachi back.

Deciding it was his turn Itachi took Kisame's place and quickly attacked. Kisame read the all telegraphed attacks and avoided them with ease. The main goal at the moment was increasing Itachi's aggression. He thought it'd be easier to build from the ground up compared to whatever he had learned with Konoha's Anbu, so they were forgoing any styles and just swapping between offense and defense.

They'd been at it for a few hours and Itachi would readily admit that Kisame's stamina was much greater than his own.

"Enough." Itachi said. Kisame's blade stopped inches away from his neck. "It would seem we have visitors." He finished before seeing a flash of white a few feet away from them. Once it cleared the shinobi could see a self-proclaimed master thief and his multi-colored assistant.

"Ah Itachi and Kisame just the men I was looking for." Roman said with a charming smile.

"Roman your timing is good we were going to look for you soon anyways. What is it?" Itachi asked sheathing his Shingetsu. Roman and Neo both looked curiously at the new sword but didn't think about it for too long.

"Well we've been acquaintances, at least in my opinion, for a time now, and since I know you've both been searching for any information you can get your hands on, I think you'd both like the opportunity to meet a friend of mine." The thief offered.

"And what would you be wanting in exchange? You don't strike me as the kind of person to do something like this for free." He asked.

"Sharp as ever aren't we." Roman said with a chuckle before adopting a more serious expression. "I mentioned in the past that I plan on expanding my influence into other kingdoms. That said I'm by no means the only criminal mastermind on Remnant. There are plenty of empires that reside in the shadows of each kingdom. As such there is the possibility of conflicts breaking out. I'm no slouch when it comes to combat, and Neo here loves it." He said getting a happy smile from Neo. "But there are better fighters out there, especially those with huntsmen training. I'm hoping that if the time comes then you will assist me in my expansion." He finished. Lying to these two could be a death sentence, and he wasn't willing to take that chance. For himself or Neo.

Roman watched the two in front of him share a look. "Well what do you know? This could work in both our favors." Kisame said with a grin.

"Does this have to do with what you both wanted to talk to me about?" The thief asked slightly wary.

"Indeed. We both have a goal for the future that could benefit from both your help, but that is a conversation for later. Itachi said vaguely.

"I'm a survivor gentleman and so is Neo. If this plan is borderline suicide, I'm afraid we'll need to decline. You guys helped us get out of a situation like that already. I'd rather not get into another one if given the choice."

"There would be danger, but nothing more than anything you face now as a crime boss." Uchiha offered. "However, we can finish this talk later. If you'd like we can go ahead and meet your friend."

"Ah right! Neo, let's be off, Junior's gonna flip." The thief's mood quickly became cheery again with an inner tone of mischief. Neo merely nodded, her expression matching her partner/boss's.

Kisame raised an eyebrow towards his own partner. Itachi shrugged in response as he watched Neo beckon the two.

 _With Ruby_

It had been a tense couple days for the young Rose. After their late-night talk things had been tense for Team RWBY. Most of it was directed at Blake, and while Ruby could understand why her teammates were acting the way they were, it didn't change the fact that it was making her job as leader of the group more stressful. Her training sessions with Itachi and Kisame had been a nice relief, but after her request to up the training she had been leaving their care completely exhausted.

Ruby wandered into Vale in hopes of clearing her head. The entire situation with her team wasn't improving, and while it could be worse, she didn't like their current position. Her remedy to everything was the bowl of ice cream in front of her with a cookie on the side from a little ice cream parlor she found.

'If we don't get back to acting like a team then we'll start falling behind everyone else.' She thought with a frown. She could see it in some of the team on team spars that Goodwitch had started. A lot of teams, JNPR especially, seemed to be coming together as real teams. RWBY, even if they hadn't lost yet, was usually sticking to multiple one-on-one fights instead of fighting as a team probably should. 'It works for Kisame and Itachi, but that doesn't mean we can get by just doing our own thing… I need to step up and try to fix this!' She thought fiercely while shoveling a scoop of ice cream into her mouth. To anyone passing by they'd have called her adorable.

Unfortunately, that brought her back to square one. 'How do I fix this? I could always ask those two, but I don't want them to think I'm just coming to them for every little problem…' She thought with a frown. Pulling out her scroll she looked at it for a moment before widening her eyes.

 _R: Hey… can I talk to you about something?_

She looked at the message for a few seconds before nodding to herself and hitting send. When it was sent, she sat and stared at the scroll before letting out a sigh. 'He might not always answer as quickly as he did the other night… He might not answer at all…' She mused nibbling at her cookie.

She finished eating her snack and was about to leave the little parlor when a message popped up.

 _G-A-L: You seem hesitant. What is it?_

Internally she giggled at his blunt observation. He was reading her over texts… 'That's an odd thought.' She thought before responding.

 _R: It's kind of hard to explain over text… I'm in the city can we… you know? Talk?_

 _G-A-L: I'll probably regret this. Where are you?_

 _R: Maria's Ice Cream_

 _G-A-L: You're lucky I'm close by._

 _R: Thanks for this Adam :)_

'Well I might be here for a bit longer.' She thought looking back to the register. 'One more couldn't hurt.'

With that thought she got back in line. After getting another cookie she walked back to the booth she had been sitting at and waited for Adam. Apparently, he was much closer than she'd thought since she saw him walk in about two minutes later. He looked pretty much like he usually did, but instead of the Grimm mask he was wearing last time he was wearing some sunglasses.

After looking around for a minute he seemed to spot her before approaching slowly.

"I'm surprised you got here so quick." Ruby said with a small chuckle.

Adam merely raised an eyebrow as he sat down. "Where do you think you are right now red?"

Ruby paused at that. She'd been wandering around kinda lost in thought, and while she was aware of those around her, she wasn't exactly paying attention to where she was. "Umm…"

"You're pretty close to the slums kid." He said getting a pout from her.

"What're you doing around here then? I'm no expert, but I feel like you could find a decent place to stay pretty easily."

Adam merely nodded to her. "I've been speaking with some of the faunus population down here. Ironically, after being ousted from the organization fighting for faunus rights, they seem to be more trusting of my presence now." He said the second part more to himself than the girl across from him.

"Yeah…" Ruby said unenthusiastically. That reminded her of her initial reason for reaching out to her newest… friend? "Speaking of relations… I kinda wanted your opinion on something with my team." She said poking her fingers together.

"Why not speak with your team rather than me? I don't know if you've noticed or picked up on it, but I prefer working on my own than with a team."

"Had you kept that attitude your whole life then the fight at the docks would've been a lot harder for you." Ruby shot back.

"You don't think I had it handled?" He asked narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Not if you wanted to keep sparing them." Ruby said simply taking a bite out of her cookie. "You could probably fight your way out, but you would've had to stop holding back."

"… Perceptive little thing, aren't you? Fine what's your question?"

"Because of the whole Blake running off thing, things have been tense." She started trying to figure out what to say. "When Weiss, Yang, and I were walking back Blake stopped us-"

"Wait." He interrupted getting a questioning look from the little reaper. "Weiss? Weiss Schnee?" He asked tensely.

Ruby's eyes widened at his tone. 'I didn't think that part through.' She muttered in her mind. "Y-yeah… she's my partner." She answered with a sheepish grin. "I'm guessing you don't like her family…"

If he weren't wearing gloves, she might've been able to see his whitened knuckles from how hard he was clenching his fist. 'Schnee… A fucking Schnee!' "We're done here." He said his voice void of emotion and started to stand up.

"Wait please!" Ruby jumped up and caught his hand getting a glare from the bull. "She's not as bad as you think she is." She said quickly.

"She's a _Schnee_. They're the biggest enemy to Faunuskind." He said coldly.

"She's not bad I promise!" Ruby said making him stop and stare at her. "Her family might have done bad things in the past, but she hasn't! Please sit and at least hear me out." She pleaded staring straight into his sunglasses.

The air between the two was heavy before he finally relented and sat down. "You better convince me quickly or I'm leaving."

"During the last few days with things being as tense as they are, I've been doing some… research… on my teammates to help me understand what's happening." She started looking at what was left of her treat in front of her. "Of course, there isn't anything specific about Blake what with her past and stuff, so I mainly looked into faunus in general. On the other side I also looked into Weiss and subsequently her family. I'm not as naïve as others might have you believe. I know there's a lot of things probably not mentioned or falsified about their business. The treatment of their workforce especially." She said looking back to Adam. "I'm by no means an expert on either subject, but I'm sure Weiss is different from the company her father owns. The next part in my story of why Blake stopped us proves as much." She said seeing she got his attention, but before she could continue, he raised his hand for her to stop.

"Did you read anything about the workers, the mines they're forced to work in, the literal enslavement of our kind?" He asked somberly. Ruby didn't know what to think. In the past when he was mad, he'd either yell or go blank, but now… he almost seemed sad…

"Enslavement…?" She asked hesitantly, no louder than a whisper.

Without saying anything else he raised a hand to his glasses and held it there for what seemed like hours before slowly taking them off.

Ruby's eyes widened, and she had to stifle a gasp. There across his left eye was what looked like a branding with three clear letters… SDC.

"The faunus-wide hatred for the Schnee family isn't unfounded. Those of us working in the mines are property just like the tools we used." He said bitterly making eye contact with Ruby for the first time. "When a tool is broken, they merely throw it away and get another one." He said clenching his fist that was laying on the table.

Before he had time to process it, there was a red blur on his lap with arms around his torso. The Crimson Bull froze with wide eyes. Slowly looking down he saw a head of dark red almost black hair buried into his chest. Ruby looked up sniffling slightly but didn't say anything for a long minute and just kept hugging him tightly.

"There's… nothing… _absolutely_ _nothing_ I can say that would do anything meaningful…" She started quietly looking back to his chest. "So, when words fail this is my next best idea." She finished tightening her hold again.

Adam really didn't know what to do. He was lucky in the fact that the parlor was pretty much empty with the cashier paying them no real attention. "Ruby… get up and let go of me." He said lowly.

Ruby shook her head into his chest and kept holding on. "Everyone needs a hug sometime Adam." She mumbled.

With an internal sigh he put his arm around her and pat her back awkwardly. With the barest flicker of a smile he shook his head. 'This little human… no one in their right mind would randomly hug a man like me. What an oddball.' "Get up. You called me here to talk, so talk. I'll listen." He said rubbing her back.

"Alright…" She said sitting back slightly but not really moving to get up. "What I was getting to was that yes Weiss is… a _little_ racist, but she was more worried about Blake's decision to leave me alone with you than she was with her past involvement in the Fang." She said watching him carefully. I think that it's a lot of just how she was raised. Before we get any deeper do you want to get back to my problem?" She asked receiving a nod.

Sighing in relief she got back to where this whole thing started. "After Blake revealed her heritage and prior association Weiss had a few words about leaving me alone with you. Then Yang, my older sister, asked who you were and after that short explanation from Weiss and Blake she got angry." She paused to take a breath. "She doesn't care about the faunus thing anymore than I do, but former leader and operative of a terrorist organization didn't rub her the right way." Ruby said with an amused smile at the ridiculousness of it all. Had it been the other way she might've felt similar in one way or another.

"I can imagine it wouldn't rub anyone in a positive way." Adam deadpanned wondering when this girl would get off him.

"Anyways! We went back to the dorm to talk since it was late. Once we got settled, I explained what happened after our groups separated, and then Weiss asked Blake why she had left me alone with you." She said before quieting down. "You were right." She got a raised eyebrow from him. "She was terrified of what you'd do and didn't think we'd be able to handle you together if it came to a fight." She muttered sadly.

He had never felt so odd about being right about something before. 'What a confusing mess this all is.' He mused.

"Yang looked like she'd blow up after that, but then just sighed and said she was disappointed then we all went to sleep." She finished her tale. "Ever since that night the entire team is tense. It's more directed at Blake than anything else, but I don't know what to do… we need to get past this, or we'll never amount to anything as a team."

"That's quite the problem…" He said before closing his eyes in thought. "It isn't exactly my style, but have you actually tried to sit everyone down and talk about this since that night?" He asked.

"No…" Ruby said looking down for a moment. "Another development form that night is the increase in training from Itachi and Kisame. I may've been throwing myself into that to avoid everything too."

Filing that training bit away for later, Adam shook his head. "How can you lead your team if you aren't willing to stand up in the face of difficulty?" He said getting her attention. "Strength isn't everything when it comes to leading. Look at how I lost the Fang the other day. In hindsight I could've taken control back rather easily, but instead I avoided a confrontation, and then one happened anyways. Take a stand and take charge. They'll respect you more as a leader if you do."

"You think so?" Ruby asked already thinking about possible ways to confront her team.

"I do. You'll learn at some point that sometimes when it comes to leading you can't be a leader and a friend. Especially if it is a larger group. Your team might be fine, but if you were leading multiple huntsmen teams towards some goal then you'd have to do what's needed for the group, not what makes everyone happy. There's always a short straw. There's always a job that no one wants. There will always be the choice that no one else is able to make." He said looking into her silver eyes.

That last one almost sounded ominous to the young reaper. Something Itachi might say albeit in a more direct way.

"I think I understand…" She said with a small smile. "Thanks for your help!" She said hugging him again.

"Enough of the screaming human." He said rubbing one of his ears. "How long do you plan to sit on my lap?" He asked putting his sunglasses back on.

He felt Ruby freeze at his question. The next thing he knew she was back in her original seat with rose petals dissolving on the table in front of them. He also noticed the reddening of her cheeks.

"Sorry!" She said quickly in embarrassment. "But seriously thank you Adam." She said with a small smile. "After all this I might change your contact name to Adam instead of Mr. Glares-A-Lot."

A tick mark appeared on his face. "Watch it red or that fight you were looking for will take place sooner rather than later."

"Oh so scary." Ruby mocked. "Is the big bad bull seeing red already?" She asked before pausing. 'Is _that_ one racist?'

Before she could come up with an answer, she heard a growl and saw Adam jump at her. In a short burst of her semblance she was standing a few feet away from the table.

"Get back here!" He shouted as he ran after her. Ruby just giggled and ran out of the ice cream shop.

"You'll have to be quicker than that." She called seeing her friend right behind her.

Yeah… this is definitely what she needed right now.

 **A/N: And there you have it. I'm sorry for the long wait everyone. School has been keeping me busy and finals are quite literally right here. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

 **I've been thinking recently and want your all inputs. As you've noticed I spend a lot of the story's focus on Ruby, especially these last few chapters. One of the reasons I always could get excited about the Akatsuki while watching Naruto was because they weren't on the screen every episode. There was an air of mystery surrounding each one until the story was explained. I don't know if you'd all agree, but even with their stories out and known by all of us, should the chapters focus more on _exactly_ what they're doing, or perhaps have them continue towards their vague goals explaining things slowly? I'm not really sure what I'll do. Pick one? Or do a mix of both? I really don't know.**

 **Now then what'd everyone think about showing some of the text-logs? I saw someone's review about it, and rather than something purely comedic I thought I'd do something with it in regards to the story. What are your thoughts?**

 **Anywho...**

 **Review time:**

 **This is about the Black Lagoon thing. I'm not sure how Ruby will see some of those characters. She is rather innocent to the world like Rock was, but at the same time the possibilities for where she could fall in regards to light and dark are still up in the air.**

 **Yes everyone seemed to like Adam's... existence? in the fic so far. I hope that continued to this chapter. Rather than him being just a pit of rage I kinda wanted to show him with some other emotions. Did it work? Should it stop? Will I possibly go against whatever it is you suggest? The last one could be a yes, but who knows.**

 **Ah! Cinder! She does seem rather out of it doesn't she? If you'll remember canon RWBY dealt with PTSD with Cinder and Yang both, and I'd like to be the first to say they handled it extremely well... pfft I'm sorry I couldn't keep that up. Yeah I don't know how Cinder will turn out, but I'm not gonna BS her recovery like in canon cause fuck that. That is _if_ she recovers.**

 **There was a poll already no more Akatsuki despite how fun and chaotic it would be. That also includes other Naruto characters. Sorry everyone Orochimaru won't be making an appearance in this story. He can be a fun character, but he isn't needed here.**

 **The innocent rose corrupted? Why I'd never.**

 **I'm glad some of you seem to like Ruby's go at taijutsu.**

 **Also it seems that my plans might be easy to figure out since someone has already mentioned a possible future occurrence.**

 **Chaos is always fun. I've always loved Heath Ledger's Joker.**

 **I'm not sure in what capacity the Hyuuga caged bird seal would be related to Adam's markings. I can see the parallels, but the only two from the elemental nations probably aren't exactly experts on the Hyuugas. Itachi probably knows about it and what it does, but being from a rival clan and then becoming a nukenin, I'm not sure what connection he'd exactly care to draw. Kisame might know of it purely from rumor or Itachi.**

 **Last one I almost missed. Fights where Itachi and Kisame actually have to try. I would love to give you all a few of those, despite my personal shortcomings and feelings in regards to writing fight scenes, but I'm not sure where these fights would come from at the moment. Like I've said the power scaling is different, so our Morning Mist duo need to either be sabotaged, outnumbered, or separated. Possibly a mix of the three, but they're still their cautious selves, so I'm not sure what I could do on that front.**

 **Now that that's out of the way again I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For the longest time I couldn't get past the RWBY talk. I just didn't know where to go from that point, but I like the way it turned out.**

 **Like always, Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or RWBY, but you all knew that.**

Chapter 14

Quiet.

It was a comfort she'd sought for the longest time. A quiet place to hide. A quiet place to relax. To read. A quiet mind… but now, it was deafening. Never before had the silence she sought sounded so loud.

'It was a week ago now.' She mused to herself. Her books no longer held her interest or her focus. Her team was rightfully distant with her. In their shoes she'd have done the same thing. If there was one thing the silence brought on it was time to think. What is she doing, what has she done, and more importantly, what next? She had covered her ears so people could judge her for who she was instead of her heritage, and what happened? Her teammates found out her secret and past, but they didn't resent it or really seem to care for the most part. No… the distance now was purely based on her actions, and they spoke much louder than her own words ever did.

'Good job Blake… you really mucked up this one.' She thought with a sigh. She had found herself a small spot in the library near one of the larger windows, and was sitting on the sill just staring outside, one leg pulled up and clutched to her chest with the other swaying below. 'I don't think I could've asked for a better team when it came down to it. Now Ruby's in and out constantly. At this point Yang's just seen fit to let her do as she pleases while she tears apart the training rooms. Weiss is usually in the room doing Weissly things. At this point we aren't much of a team anymore… maybe it'll be better if I just-'

 _Bzzt Bzzt_

'Hmm?' Fishing out her scroll she saw a message from… Ruby.

 _R: Team meeting in 20 minutes. Dorm room. Get Yang on your way back._

"Well that's an order if I've ever read one." She muttered, slowly standing from her perch. 'Now I just need to go grab my unhappy partner. _Great_.'

Without anyone's notice Blake slunk out into the hallway and on towards the probable location of her partner. 'This time of day she'd probably be around the gym area… unless she went out into Vale to enjoy her weekend.'

Lost in her thoughts as it were, she almost walked into a very familiar bespectacled man.

"Careful Ms. Belladonna, you should try to be more attentive of your surroundings." A voice chided snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I'm sorry Professor Ozpin. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She said lamely. 'Of all the times to not be paying attention.'

"Something on your mind?" He asked shifting the cane in his hand slightly.

Blake eyed the cane for the weapon it was along with the possibility that he'd found out her secret. The White Fang one, not the Faunus part. "I've just been a little stressed recently is all." She offered with an awkward half-smile.

"I see. As you might have seen I make it a habit of walking around academy grounds from time to time." The headmaster said looking to the surrounding hall as if to prove his point. A point she wasn't quite aware of yet.

"Professor?"

"I've noticed that your team has been distant recently. Not only with your classmates, but each other." He said making her tense up. "Calm down you aren't in trouble this is merely an old man's observations." He said with a small smile.

With that statement the not-so-secret cat Faunus relaxed if only minutely.

"It's interesting." The headmaster said looking off at something she couldn't see. "There was an incident down at the docks almost a week ago with reports of loud gunfire and explosions. By the time authorities arrived the area was empty of people, but there were obvious signs of conflict. With so little being stolen I can only speculate what happened down there. The occasional White Fang mask left behind certainly helped paint a picture, but the evidence shown can only lead so far. Around that same time your team seems to have closed its borders to everyone." He mused, never turning his gaze towards her own.

"Was there something you needed me for headmaster?" Blake asked narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Nothing at all. Your appearance is what made me think of it. I'd probably have sooner or later spoken to your leader to make sure everything is alright, but she has the oddest way of slipping away from the school whenever no one's looking." He said still looking off at something. "Please pass on my concerns to young Ms. Rose. As the headmaster and as a huntsman it is part of my duty to make sure my students are safe. To an extent. Training to become huntresses and huntsmen after all." He added on as an afterthought with the slightest upwards curl of his lips.

"I'll be sure to let her know." She said before continuing on her way. 'There's no way he doesn't at least suspect something. Otherwise he never would have mentioned the incident.' She thought with a frown. 'Oh well, Yang now, Ozpin later.'

Without further incident Blake reached the gym, and upon brief glace, found her partner's long colorful hair. Steeling herself for a moment she took a few steps closer. "Yang?" She called out making the blonde still. With a slow turn, Blake saw the briefest flash of a frown before it was covered with a smile.

"Heya Blakey what brings you to this neck of the woods?" She asked walking up to her while toweling off her face.

Blake smiled sheepishly; it was sort of obvious her partner wasn't quite happy to see her. "Ruby called a team meeting and sent me to fetch you. It'll start in… about ten minutes." She said after checking the time.

Yang looked like she wanted to protest that, but Blake started talking again. "I don't know why or what it's about, but she seemed pretty serious over it. At least the text didn't come off as Ruby usually sounds."

Yang looked at her partner for a long minute before shrugging. "Alright if it's serious then let's not keep them waiting."

The quiet was back, and it was now Blake realized that she'd have preferred Yang's lame puns to the heavy silence between them. She wanted to speak up and say something, but her nerves kept getting in the way. 'I'm really going to have to work on that aren't I?' She asked hanging her head down a little and falling slightly behind.

Yang noticed the distinct lack of a person beside her, so she looked back to see Blake staring at the ground with one of the most emotional faces she'd ever seen on the girl. Yang knew she hadn't known her teammates, except for Ruby, for that long, but the only other time she'd seen that much raw emotion on her partner's face she'd been in hysterics. Looking away from her face she saw Blake clenching her hands tightly. Without aura her nails might've bitten into the palms of her hands.

'I'm not sure what she's thinking but… she is my partner.' Walking back to the other girl she placed a hand on her shoulder. With a snap of her head amber eyes met lilac. "Hey, we don't want to be late, yeah?" She said with a small smile. "Let's see what sis has in store for all of us." She said turning again towards their room.

"Yeah…" Blake whispered with an even smaller smile.

* * *

 _RWBY Dorm_

'Well this is certainly an interesting change to our recent routine.' Weiss thought to herself from the lone desk in the room. For whatever reason the academy supplied them with a single desk between four people, perhaps to encourage assignments being done outside the area they sleep in, so like the rest of the room it was split. Each member had her own drawer, but Weiss was the one to use the desk the most. 'Now isn't the time to be speculating a desk.' She thought to herself with a small, but dignified, shake of her head.

Back to the matter at hand, Ruby hadn't disappeared as soon as the day was over and instead had told her they'd be waiting in their room to have a team meeting. 'It sounded oddly like an invitation to challenge her order.' The heiress thought, but at this point she had long accepted the headmaster's decision regarding leadership. 'Father wouldn't be happy about it, but at present he isn't my main concern… what're we going to do regarding our team's situation? Is that what this meeting is for? When did she get that steely look in her eyes?'

So many questions, but at the moment all she could do was wait. It unnerved her slightly to see her rambunctious, energetic dolt of a partner sitting completely still in what looked like a meditative position. 'What have you been up to Ruby?'

The sound of the door opening captured the attention of both girls.

"Good we're all here and on time. Shut the door please Yang." Ruby said standing from her spot.

Once everyone was inside and facing her expectantly, she allowed a small sigh to escape her lips. "You all know what we're likely here for, but just to be clear we are fixing the issues with this team." Seeing no one preparing to say anything she continued. "Over the past week or so we have all been ignoring each other to do our own things and not come into conflict. I know I'm more guilty of it than all three of you, but when I realized what was happening, I decided to fix this."

"What's there to really fix?" Yang asked crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm glad you asked my dear sister. We all remember what happened at the docks and none of us can seem to get over the events from that night."

"Well yea, but it's-" Yang started before Ruby _glared_ at her. Ruby. Glared. At _her._

She was so shocked that she lost whatever was about to come out of her mouth. "You will all listen before interrupting or adding in your own thoughts. Can we agree to that?" She asked looking to each member of her team getting nods, hesitant or not, from each of them.

"Good. Now mistakes were made last week. Not just Blake's, but my own as well. Because of that we've distanced ourselves from her and each other, and it's made me realize that even before that we weren't the shining example of teamwork. In the combat classes any team assignments mainly relied on fighting our own battles while supporting the other members when necessary. When looking at a team like JNPR's then there's really no question. Could we beat them four on four? Maybe, but they've got something we sorely lack." She said taking a pause and meeting the eyes of each girl in front of her.

"I want it said here and now that I have a goal for our team. I want to become the best team that this school has ever seen. Not the best of our year or of the years we've been here, no. I think we could be the best this academy has ever seen! But I can't do this alone. We need to become a team if we really want to take on such a challenge. I want to be able to rely on each of you when the time inevitably comes to have my back." She paused looking at them again. "Now that you know my goal… will you stand with me and become the best of the best? Or will we continue what we're doing now until we all go our separate ways?" She asked in a gravely somber voice.

"Well you know I'm not going anywhere. I love it when you get passionate!" Yang said putting her hand forward with a grin.

Weiss scoffed quietly. "I may not be like my father, but Schnees are raised to be the best of the best. I'd accept nothing less." She finished with a small smile putting her hand on top of Yang's.

Three pairs of eyes found themselves on one cat Faunus who was clenching her fist. Looking up they saw a stray tear fall from her eye. "If you all will have me then I'll do whatever it takes." She said getting a nod and small smile from Ruby. Adding her hand to the pile the three looked to the cloaked girl.

Ruby smiled at them and joined her hand in the center. "Team RWBY will be the best team that this academy has ever seen!" She said with another small smile. "Once we've finished Beacon, I'll do everything in my power to continue pushing forward to meet not only my goals, but each of yours as well. Are you all with me?!" She asked receiving a chorus of "Yes!" "Then we'll need to get started right away! We wake up bright and early tomorrow, so don't wander off late into the night. I'm looking at you Yang."

Yang gasped and covered her heart in mock shock. "Me? I would never go gallivanting through the streets of Vale looking for trouble or parties!"

Ruby just shook her head and Weiss and Blake rolled their eyes.

"Speaking of goals and whatnot, nice speech by the way Rubes, but I thought you just wanted to become a huntress and protect people. Did that change?"

"No… but that isn't an end goal. Becoming a huntress and helping people is of course what I'll do, but my goal is much higher than that." She said turning to look out the window behind her. The shattered moon slowly rising into the night sky.

"Then what is your new goal?" Weiss asked.

"Simple." She said half-turning her head and giving them a smile that didn't quite match the bubbly girl they usually saw. "I want to catch up to a couple friends of mine."

Blake raised an eyebrow at that, but Yang was the one to speak. "If you're talking about who I think you're talking about… I know you hold them in high regard and all of that, but are they really a goal for you?"

"They are. At the moment I don't know if I can aim much higher." She said quietly turning back to the window.

"When you say, 'catch up' what exactly do you mean?" Weiss asked hesitantly.

"They're on a level probably few people will ever stand at. Me alone? I could never be their equal. In a combat scenario at the very least. Probably a lot of other scenarios too." She muttered the last part more to herself than her teammates. "Anyways, I think as a team we could one day stand on their level. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right, but at the very least I'd like to try." After another pause, she turned back towards the others. "What about you girls? Have any fun lofty goals to impress upon the rest of us? I'm not supporting world domination."

With a small pout at that last comment, Weiss spoke up. "I suppose I'll go ahead. I don't quite know how to do it yet, but I want to make the Schnee Dust Company into the business it once was under my grandfather. My father has dragged our company through the political and ethical mud, but he wasn't the first nor will he be the last of our line. I want to make the Schnee name something to truly be proud of once more." She said before realizing how passionate that might've sounded.

"That's a goal I can stand behind." Ruby said throwing her partner a smile before looking to the others. "What about you two?"

Blake and Yang looked to each other before Blake shrugged. "I've always wanted equality for the Faunus. That fight has been part of my life since I was a little girl back in Menagerie… The White Fang of today is nothing more than a spiky shell of the once warm and peaceful organization. I… I think fixing that will be the best place for me to start."

Ruby gave a nod as did Weiss who offered a half-smile. "Once the Schnee Dust Company is… redirected… you'll have a greater sway over the people since we'll all be working together on this. Equality will be a lofty goal for a long time."

"I know, but we're aiming for the top, aren't we? Might as well go for it."

The group then looked to Yang who seemed to be contemplative. "I… I don't think I've ever really had some goal or dream. I'm a thrill seeker you know. For now, we'll settle for your all's goals. I'm still working on mine." She said after a minute or so.

"Well our first goal before any of that. Before becoming the best team ever, is to fix the little incident that caused this. Blake." Ruby turned to her once more. "Would you be willing to forgive me for not taking your feelings into consideration in regard to the situation we found ourselves in, and jumping into a fight without you?"

Blake's eyes widened for a moment before nodding. "I will… if you can forgive me for having been a coward and running away rather than helping?" She offered quietly.

"If we can make sure it doesn't happen in the future then I forgive you. What about you two?" Ruby asked.

"We've already agreed to being in this together. It isn't like we won't make mistakes later on down the road anyways, so I'll move on, but Rubes you really need to chill on the dangerous friends thing." Yang said in a stern tone.

"Well I don't really try for those situations to happen, but alright Yang."

"I'm more worried about your insanity, for being friends with a former terrorist head, than Blake's wise, if morally conflicting, decision to flee. Just make sure to not leave a teammate behind next time and I'll work on my attitude towards the Faunus." Weiss directed that part to Blake.

"Alright Team RWBY time to turn in. I've been getting a lot of training from outside help as you know, so I'm bumping up our Team training to the next level." She announced. 'Channeling my inner Adam was hard.' She thought with a small sigh. 'Maybe I can ask Itachi and Kisame to help us get into the groove of things before they leave for Mistral… They leave pretty soon if they go by what they told me the other day.' She mused. She could ask, but at this point it was getting rather late, and she really didn't want to risk waking Itachi, if he was asleep, for something like this.

Without her notice, her teammates seemed to be following her instructions rather well and were in different stages of laying down to sleep. She looked back at them and a fond smile made its way onto her face. 'You know… maybe this leader thing won't be too bad. And I could probably rub it in Adam's face since he's not really a leader anymore...' The lighthearted grin turned slightly mischievous. 'I've never been the trainer before. This might be fun.'

With that last thought she quickly changed into her sleepwear and jumped into her bed. A chorus of 'goodnights' ended the night.

* * *

 _The Next Morning_

 _5:00 A.M._

 _TWEEEEEEEET_

"Aaahhhhh!" A startled shriek made its way through the dorm hallway.

In the dorm the noise originated from sat four girls with two main expressions between them. On one side there was a bright and cheery smile on the face of one girl, showing happiness and an undertone of amusement for all the world to see. On the other side were three murderous glares ranging from homicide to genocide. What a delightful way to start the day.

"Alright Team RWBY! Get ready for early morning training. Wear something you don't mind getting dirty we're starting out with a run through the forest!" Ruby beamed to her team.

"Rubes it's 5 A.M… let us sleep." Yang groaned rolling towards the wall.

"No can do Yang, we all agreed to this, and I warned you last night we'd be training bright and early today."

"It's not even light outside!" Weiss hissed gesturing towards the window showing that the sun hadn't come up yet.

"Well we'll be out there when it does come up if that makes you feel any better." The mini reaper said with another smile. 'This is going to be great.' She thought to herself.

"Ruby… Please let us go back to sleep Give it an hour and we'll do whatever you want." Blake's voice came through slightly muffled because she was talking into a pillow.

"Hmm… do you both want to wait an hour too?" Ruby asked looking to the others.

"Sure, whatever you want, yes, just let me sleep." Yang huffed.

"I concur. We'll train and give it our all but give us another hour." Weiss agreed laying back down.

"Hmm I suppose that just pushes the end time back an hour. Oh well if that's what you girls really want." Ruby shrugged before walking into their bathroom. Once inside she closed the door and chuckled to herself. "They may come to regret that decision." She mused as she started preparing for the day's training. 'Now I understand Uncle Qrow's enjoyment of training others. At least a little bit at least.'

* * *

"I'm telling you it was two times damn it! _Two!_ " Roman shouted to the person next to him.

Neo being the silent little minx that she is just held up five fingers.

"Was there any other way to get to Mistral?" Kisame asked with an exasperated frown.

"Unfortunately, the next best option was on foot. I'm starting to go over the pros and cons of jumping out of the ship now." Itachi deadpanned. The duo was currently on their way to Anima. Roman decided to pilot their aircraft himself while Neo acted as his co-pilot. In the bay area where they were sitting were a few more of Roman's trusted men, far too used to these kinds of arguments to be concerned with it.

"I never quite realized what it was to have a completely one-sided argument, but here it is." The shark muttered watching the two. It was Hidan's volume and Kakuzu's greed on one side and the other held the opposite. Kakuzu's volume and Hidan's bloodlust. Well close to it at least.

"They're far too much like some of our former associates, but at least they're mortal." The Uchiha mused from his seat.

"Yes, but killing them would put us in an unfavorable spot right about now."

"At least we won't be here for too long." He said. Their main job was to help make sure things got set up well enough as a start for Roman, and apparently with past dealings with a group called The Spiders, that shouldn't be too difficult.

"We'll be landing soon ladies and gents please prepare for any possible welcoming parties." Roman's voice rang over the intercom.

Without anymore fanfare the group felt the ship descend until finally touching down. When the aircraft was cut off the bay doors were opened showing Roman along with two individuals they didn't know.

'Judging by the visible tattoos these must be some of the Spiders we heard about.' Kisame mused looking the two over. He didn't see her, but he knew Neo was nearby as usual.

"Let's go Kisame. The sooner we finish with this the sooner we can find something to eat." Itachi said standing from his seat. "I've also heard they have good tea here, and I was wanting to compare it to the tea from Vale."

"It isn't hard to beat the slop they have over there." His partner offered with a small frown.

"We got good tea here don't worry your pretty little heads about it." One of the spiders next to Roman said with a chuckle. He and most the others turned around, so they missed the small flash in the larger man's eyes, but Neo saw it from where she was hiding.

'What're those two playing at?' She wondered before shaking her head and following the now moving group. Oh, the things she does for her employer.

 _With Team RWBY_

"Are we lucky or what guys?!" Ruby yelled from behind the others. They'd begrudgingly woke up and started their new 'training' a few hours ago. Now they were coming to an end of their morning-forest-trek.

"You're Insane!" Weiss shrieked as she did her best not to trip up in her heels. If she survived this she promised herself to look into new footwear, appearances be damned.

Blake and Yang weren't in a much better condition. Blake had the easiest time with her former training from the White Fang, but this was a bit much even for her.

"What's the problem? We're just taking a short run!" Ruby called from the back of the group.

"There are _so_ many problems with this entire situation!" The heiress yelled back.

"Really?! Like what?" She asked curiously.

"Oh! I don't know! How about the fact that we've been running through the woods without our weapons for the past two hours!"

"Don't… forget to mention… the Grimm!" Yang huffed out from her left.

"Or the ridiculous pace you set." Blake added dodging away from a beowolf.

"You guys need to relax! There's nothing to worry about! I've got Crescent Rose, so I can take care of any that get _too_ close." Ruby chirped happily.

"I was right about those friends of yours being insane!" Yang rolled underneath an Ursa's treelike arm.

"This isn't Itachi and Kisame! This is all Uncle Qrow!" Ruby defended.

"Your uncle is insane!" Weiss jumped back in.

"Really? What gives you that idea?" She asked as she looked behind her. "Oh, and we should probably speed up that's a lot of Grimm back there!"

"Where are we going?!" her partner risked looking back at the crimsonette.

"Your weapons of course! I just sent the coordinates for the locker rockets, so they should be landing about seven hundred feet ahead of us."

"You want us to fight all of these?"

"Relax! They're mostly young ones anyways. The older ones either saw this as a waste of time or are trying to circle around to trap us!"

"One of those options sounds really bad!" Yang yelled looking towards the lockers.

"Well it would be if I didn't plan accordingly." Ruby slowed as they reached the clearing their lockers had landed. "Where do you think I was shooting half the time? I'm not aiming for the little guys behind us, I was watching the ones trying to pass around."

"What if you… missed one…" Weiss panted as she leaned against her locker.

"Then we better hurry this up." Their leader said with a grin. Without any further provocation, she unfurled Crescent Rose and stood with her out of breath team.

"How are you unaffected by this?" Blake asked as she readied her own weapon.

"Hmm? Well I was focusing small amounts of aura into my legs. Helped keep them from working too hard, and me from dealing with the aftereffects. It was also good practice with controlling my aura."

"Controlling it?" Yang asked as she armed Ember Celica.

"Yeah I'll explain it later right now we have company." Ruby's excited grin grew.

* * *

 _A few hours later_

 _1300 hours_

"Good job on today's training everyone." One Jaune Arc said as his team reached their dorm room.

"I still say we could've gone longer. I mean I'm not even tired yet!" Nora complained in mock distress.

"Some of us don't have your energy Nora." Ren said from her right getting a pout from the girl in question.

Pyrrha for her part just smiled softly at the two. 'It may not be ideal for individual growth, but as a team we should be fine.' She thought before hearing noise from behind them.

"Hey team JNPR!" A chipper voice caught the attention of the team. "What're you guys up to?"

"Hey Ruby. We just finished some team training and were probably heading out for lunch after changing." The blonde answered.

"Really what a coincidence. We just finished our training too."

"We?" Pyrrha asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah we…" Ruby paused when she turned around. Just coming into sight now were the rest of her team with Weiss in the front propped up against a somewhat stable Blake, and a very unsteady Yang bringing up the rear. "What took you all so long?" She called getting annoyed looks from her team.

"I'm sorry that some people aren't used to training at that kind of intensity." Weiss snapped tiredly. Bed was sounding good right about now. Right after a nice long shower.

"I guess seven hours was a lot for the first day." Ruby contemplated. "Food for thought." She finished with a shrug.

"Did you just say seven hours?" Jaune echoed.

"Yes." Blake answered shortly.

"But isn't it only one in the afternoon?" He asked again.

"Yes." She answered even shorter.

"I was originally aiming for getting up at five to end around noon, but they wanted another hour of sleep." Ruby added helpfully.

"What brought this on?" The champion asked.

"We all came to an understanding last night, and because of that we needed to up everyone's training."

"OH my gosh you all look dead on your feet! What'd you do? Tell me tell me please." Nora appeared in front of them excitedly.

"We spent two hours running through that damned forest." Yang started.

"Spent another hour fighting the Grimm we attracted during the run." Blake continued.

"Started drilling team-based combat for the next two." Weiss added.

"Then finished with an hour of free-for-all combat and finally some post workout stuff to help resettle our bodies." Ruby finished with a smile. "With some breaks sprinkled in of course." She added as an afterthought.

Nora had stars in her eyes when they finished. "We need to join them!" She directed that towards her own leader who looked sheepish.

"Ha ha… I'm not sure that's a good idea…" He muttered scratching the back of his head.

'It does seem rather intense for those not accustomed to it, but it doesn't sound like a _bad_ idea.' Pyrrha thought while Nora pleaded with Jaune to change his mind.

"Alright Team." Ruby said spinning to face her team. "The rest of the day is yours. Don't forget we need to be ready for classes tomorrow, so don't just skip out on any homework or studying." She aimed that last part at her sister. "Aside from that have fun, train, do whatever, I'm off to Vale for a while."

With that last bit said, she turned back to the now silent JNPR, offered them a wave and disappeared in a cloud of rose petals.

"She seems to frequent the city a lot recently doesn't she?" Pyrrha mused. "If you don't mind my asking" She started looking towards the remaining members of RWBY. "what's she doing there?"

"With her I'm not really sure anymore." Yang admitted watching the rose petals fade away. "I'd assume she's gone off to meet up with some of her friends."

"You don't sound too excited about that." The amazon noted.

"She's got… interesting friends." Blake offered looking between her remaining teammates' faces. "Not the kind you'd usually expect a girl like her to have."

Well that vague answer certainly lit part of team JNPR's curiosity.

"I know what we should do for the rest of the day!" Nora said excitedly. Jaune and Ren felt a sense of foreboding wash over them.

"What do you have in mind?" The amazon asked with a glint in her eye.

"Let's go into Vale and see what Ruby's doing and who these friends are." She mock whispered.

"Umm I've tried doing that in the past, didn't usually work out too well." Yang said scratching the back of her head. "She can be quite elusive when she wants to be."

"Well it'll help with more people no?" Pyrrha asked.

"Wait you actually want to do this Pyrrha?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"It sounds like fun, and I'm very curious about these friends of hers. Especially if they're the reason she's been advancing as much as she has in combat classes recently."

The members of RWBY looked between each other. Each member had different expressions on their faces. Weiss seemed to disapprove, Blake seemed nervous, and Yang's face was blank. She didn't really care too much to follow her sister again, but the curiosity was still there.

"If we all do this together then we can see what she's up to and go from there." Pyrrha started again. "And if we want to do this then we should probably hurry up, she's had a good head start on us now."

"Right! Let's get this show on the road!" Nora said grabbing Ren's arm and bounding down the hall, dragging the poor boy behind her.

"Nora!" Jaune called before sighing and looking to the girls still there. "Well it looks like we're stuck, Pyrrha and I at least, you know how Nora can get." He shrugged before following his own partner, who was already at the end of the hall.

The remnants of RWBY shared another look before Weiss let out a heavy sigh. "I will not take the blame for this." She said sternly before they followed after JNPR.

"I don't know princess, you _are_ Ruby's partner, and in her absence the next in command would fall to you wouldn't it?" Yang said with a grin.

Weiss cursed her own pride that the other girl was stroking. "I will get you back for this Xiao Long." She muttered under her breath. "And JNPR too." She added realizing just what they were doing. The exhausted members of RWBY were still in their own disheveled and tired states.

* * *

 _With Itachi and Kisame_

"Where'd you get those two?" One of the spiders asked. Roman couldn't really bother to remember his name, but if he strained himself, he'd go with Bruto. Or something like that.

Giving a side-glance to the spider, then looking back to the two cloaked individuals he shrugged. "If you'll believe me, they found me." He offered.

"Why'd you keep them around then? Something special? And what's with those gaudy cloaks?" He asked in quick succession taking his own glance towards the two.

"Does it really matter?" Roman asked raising an eyebrow at Brutus.

"I just don't see what they might be able to offer aside from protection, what with that sword the big guy's lugging around." The man said with a frown.

Behind them Kisame and Itachi were bickering about something.

"I'm telling you Itachi, you just don't understand it!" Kisame said hotly. "Eternity is nothing compared to the beauty found in a single moment."

"Wise words from the old man past his prime. Art is ageless, steadfast against the sands of time to be seen by all; past, present, and future. Just because you're past your prime, doesn't disprove my views." The Uchiha said never glancing towards the other man.

Ever since they'd landed the two had been bickering about anything and everything, and eventually they'd landed on art. Roman could safely say he had no idea what they were doing, but it was so far off their normal attitudes that he assumed it was a show put on for their current company. That or they were actually insane. A less desirable possibility, but he had to keep an open mind around these two.

"What can I say?" The thief shrugged towards the other man. Baron. Yeah definitely Baron.

"They won't be joining you in seeing the boss, will they?" Birch asked.

"They're two of my most trusted men, so they will." He replied. Seeing the man about to speak again he held his hand up. "Listen kid, whatever your name is, I'm not questioning the rabble that Malachite keeps around, so I don't need you questioning the people in my entourage."

"It's Jackson, and I apologize Mr. Torchwick." He muttered catching back up to his cohort.

'Jackson… Eh close enough.' He thought with a shrug. At least the pointless conversations passed the time. He noticed that Neo was no longer hovering around camouflaged, but, if he saw right, was dogging behind the bickering pair at the end of this little procession.

'I wonder whether those two were actually acting like this to pull one over on everyone else.' Itachi mused as Kisame went on his little rant. After so long around the artist duo they'd heard their fair share of long-winded debates. Most of which pertained to art of course.

The Uchiha discreetly signed his question towards his partner.

Kisame was coming to an end on this particular rant, so he paused. 'If they were, then they were two of the best actors I've ever seen.' He signed back sending a wink back towards the girl walking behind them.

'They're either brilliant or insane.' Neo thought staring at the two. 'Although… I've heard those two go hand in hand more often than not. I don't know exactly what their goal is here…'

 _With Ruby_

Ruby was humming a tune to herself as she walked through the streets of Vale. She was on one of the main roads surrounded by people going to and fro. She'd been walking for a few minutes before suddenly veering off into a nearby alley. Following the alley to a split she took a right, and another left shortly after.

She never paused in her humming until she heard a noise behind her.

"Well well well. Look what we have here fellas." A man said from behind her.

Turning around she found four guys blocking the way she'd just come from. 'Well if there's some behind then there must be some in front.' She thought hearing muffled noise behind her. "I don't know what it is about the thugs in this town and picking bad fights, but I'm starting to get concerned." She said with a shake of her head, hands dropping to her baby.

The guys in front of her chuckled bringing out a few knives among them. "Just hand over your lien and we promise not to rough you up too bad." The guy continued. Probably the head of this little group.

Ruby just sighed and swung out her baby, catching one of the guys behind her in the foot with a dull crunch. His cry of pain wasn't as dull, and actually surprised Ruby for a moment.

Hefting her scythe over her shoulder she looked towards the group in front of her. "You really chose poorly." She muttered just loud enough for them to hear.

Taken aback for a brief second the head guy didn't immediately respond. "G-get her!" He ordered making the others charge.

Hearing rushed footsteps behind her Ruby turned and swept the feet from the two behind her. The one she hit earlier fell hard, and the other stumbled forward into an awaiting kick to the gut sending him to the wall.

Looking back to the others, she planted her scythe's tip into the ground and fired at the knee of one completely bringing him down. As the other three got closer she moved Crescent back to her shoulder and crouched down. When the first one entered her range, she immediately spun around with her weapon using the blunted end of the head to bash the man's head. There was more give than normal, but she didn't immediately take note of it.

"Cobal!" One of the charging goons shouted, moving from her to the downed man.

Looking over in confusion she froze when she saw him collapsed on the ground. That in itself wasn't a worry, but the blood flowing freely down the side of his head was another matter entirely. 'His aura broke… in a single hit.' She thought with wide eyes. Hearing the two still running towards her she pulled the shaft of the weapon in front of her and blocked a knife. Bringing the head of Crescent down she about pulled the trigger but paused. That hesitation was enough for the second guy to land a punch to the face. Shaking her head to clear it, she ducked another blow, and was about to retaliate when she was interrupted by a body hitting the man in front of her.

Looking behind her, she saw a familiar partially covered face walking towards the group. Adam in all his annoyed glory had the other man, whose ankle she'd probably broken, in one of his hands. He sent an invisible glare to the guys still behind her and threw the body into the group. "Leave." Was his short command.

The guys behind her were quick to grab their friends and scurry away.

"Hey Adam…" Ruby said lamely putting Crescent Rose away.

"What happened there Red? The girl I thought I'd be fighting wouldn't have had any trouble against a couple thugs." He said with a visible frown.

"Oh… sorry I was just a little surprised. One of those guys' auras broke after a single hit, and I wasn't sure what to make of that. Then I thought what if his friends are that weak too, or worse, weaker?"

The problem became clear pretty quickly to the ex-commander. "You didn't want to harm them too much." He said getting a small nod from the girl.

"I know they tried to rob me… but what if I hadn't been paying attention and one of them actually died from one of my attacks?" She asked biting her lower lip in worry.

As a former leader of a terrorist group, he had eventually had to admit that's what his organization had turned into, he had come across plenty of people who were afraid to kill, or fight in general. Usually they could be quelled or encouraged to face their fears, but in this situation, he didn't think a healthy dose of patriotism would do anything positive.

"Calm down Red." He started getting her attention. "All it was is self-defense. You did nothing wrong here."

"But what if they-" She started but was quieted when he put a hand to her mouth.

"Did you start this?" He asked getting a shake of her head 'no'. "Is anyone dead?" A longer pause this time before a shrug.

"Promemy mot." She said.

Rolling his eyes, he took his hand away from her mouth. "Probably not." She said again.

"Then there's nothing to worry about. If a few of them got injured, then they might be more hesitant to do it again in the future. They were attempting to mug you at the very least."

"At least?" Ruby asked furrowing her eyebrows.

"You're a young woman walking alone in the alley. Don't be naïve Red." Adam said looking to her expectantly.

After a few moments her eyes widened. "What?! Ewwww…" She stuck her tongue out.

"Yes, people are disgusting that's great. Now are you alright?" He asked looking her over.

"Yeah like I said I was just a little shook, but I'm alright now." She said with a small smile. "Thanks Adam." After that she paused before tilting her head. "How'd you know I was over here anyways?"

"Not many people are carrying around guns with the capability of firing that loudly. You weren't at the spot we agreed on yet, so I thought I'd check and here I am." He said with a shrug.

"Aww you were worried about little ol' me?" She asked with a teasing grin.

"No." He said shortly. "Now are we going to settle this, or are you too tired from your little bout?"

"Of course I'm ready! Though after the training I did with my team today I'm not at full capacity, but it should be enough to make this interesting at least."

"Team training tired you out? I'd imagine you finally worked things out with them?"

"Yep!" She said popping the 'p'. "Thanks for your help by the way. I don't even want to think about what could have happened without intervention."

"Probably just the team falling apart." He shrugged getting a glare from the hooded girl.

"I for one like my team and would rather it didn't fall apart on me! Or are you just jealous that I'm leading people now and you aren't?" She taunted.

"Keep talking Red. I won't feel bad about beating you down at all." Adam said darkly.

"Oh NO! Please spare me!" She mock begged before laughing at her own performance. Even Adam had a small smirk on his face. "Well as nice as this alleyway is, shall we?"

"Yeah let's get out of here." He said walking back from where he came from.

 _With WBY and JNPR_

"Ugh! Where could she have gone?" Nora groaned leaning against her partner.

"If we wanted to chase the girl with a speed semblance, then we should've had some way to track her." Ren offered quietly.

"Ren's got a point; this may be a lost cause." Jaune said to the group.

The members of RWBY didn't seem too caring about this statement, but the females of JNPR seemed disheartened.

Pyrrha looked down for a moment before her eyes snapped to the members of WBY. "Does Ruby have her scroll with her?"

"I think so…?" Yang said unsure. "Why?"

"Since the scrolls are connected to the school there's a tracking device in them." She said getting excited. "As the team leader Jaune can see where any of us are, and we can see where our individual partners are using the tracking feature."

"Really? I didn't even know the scrolls had a function like that." Weiss said eyeing the scroll warily.

"She's right! Weiss check and see where she is!" Nora's own excitement reared its head.

'This so feels like an invasion of privacy… and who else can see where we are?' She thought with a frown before finding the function. "She's about a block or so away from here, one street over. She doesn't seem to be moving quickly, so she's probably just walking around."

"Lead the way." Pyrrha said with that same glint in her eye.

 **A/N: Well that's that. First thing's first. Hello everyone, long time no see. Shit's really hit the fan since I've last posted hasn't it? And I've been just as caught up in everything as I' sure many of you have.**

 **Anywho I'm embarrassed to say this, if they worked, but I just figured out the line break feature, and with how easy it seems to be, will find out if it works upon publishing this chapter, I feel kinda stupid.**

 **Now then, I'm sure there are many people thinking this took too long and what not, but those kinds of comments don't really change anything now do they? Two-thirds of this has been done for a little while now, probably done before the quarantine, but I like where it ended here.**

 **I'm sure there's some questions on this chapter with this and that, but don't worry. They'll be answered soon. Probably.**

 **Review time:**

 **Hmm I think with the focus I've decided to keep on doing both options of keeping them in the light, but not revealing everything right away, cuz that'd be boring. I will keep in mind one comment that talked about Ruby "Screen time", but otherwise the structures of the chapter shouldn't change too much. There won't be individual chapters for different points of view because honestly I kinda hate that kinda thing.**

 **Maybe they'll become an awesome team someday Ocean, Maybe.**

 **Looking back on it, yes the previous chapter's drama with the team could've actually been shown rather than a** **monologue, so that's a shortcoming of my own design. I'm glad the texting bit is being received well, and it'll most likely continue in the future. I'm trying to make some of the villains more interesting as you've seen so far, and while none of them are "fleshed out" I'd like to think it's a good start. Specifically along the lines of Adam, Cinder, and Salem. I don't personally think I've done too much to change Roman's little crew. Aside from put him with Junior.**

 **Perhaps Weiss doesn't have the most "normal" view on life. That's a fair assessment, but in response I ask you, in her eyes would it not be normal?**

 **No I won't add anymore Naruto characters no matter how much you love Neji.**

 **I'll be honest I had to look up what a trash ship was after that review. I don't know if I found the right definition though.**

 **Juan my friend you have asked some good questions, and are curious about interesting things. I don't know if everything will be answered, but for now you'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Ah, don't worry about an Assassin's Creed thing. Even in the Akatsuki the members weren't exactly devoted to the cause. Some were of course, but others either didn't have a choice, or it was their best one to continue what they've been doing. We all know Kakuzu, for example, didn't care about world peace. Money talks, walks, and makes the world go round in his eyes.**

 **Well I suppose that's it. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. If you read some of my other stuff I think the Bloodborne one is next, so keep an eye out for that.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz is out.**


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